Aspen's Bluff: Arguing With Time
by Sophia Conrad
Summary: Time is such a fickle thing, such a tricky thing to handle. You never know how much of it you'll have, or when it's likely to be cut short. But above all, time must never be played with. Dangerous things happen to those who try. You can't interfere with timelines, as the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Aspen disagrees. Some days, everybody lives. 1st in Aspen's Bluff.
1. Chapter 1: The Rip in Time

**Arguing with Time**

**Sophia Conrad**

**1.1: The Rip in Time**

* * *

_"Some force, out there, ripped the boundaries of space and time to shreds!"_

―_Nick Cutter_

* * *

Today was the day. Aspen knew it… It was hard not to realize when she saw this morning's newspaper, and Connor's reaction to it. It was the same reason that she followed Connor when he went scampering off to the Evolutionary Zoology Dept, the one that just happened to be located so ever so conveniently on campus.

So Aspen waited patiently on one of the benches. In an attempt to look inconspicuous, she had tucked her feet up next to her body; and, with a pair of dark shades on and a book in her lap, she created the effect that she was thoroughly engrossed in 'A Brief History of Egypt' and not likely to move any time soon.

Eventually a silver 4x4 pick-up truck pulled into the nearby parking lot. Even from across the grounds, she could hear the familiar conversation. A conversation held by voices that she knew by heart thanks to the hours of footage that she was lucky enough to have seen.

_"I think there's something seriously wrong with her…" _She glanced up just in time to see Connor make his approach on the Professor. This was it; she shut the book and slid it into her bag, standing up, she started to follow them. Faintly she could hear what was being said.

"Professor Cutter?" Connor looked rather jittery as Cutter turned to see him, and promptly dropped all the papers he was carrying in his excitement. Cutter's lack of interest was clear when he simply said:

"Careful there." And then carried on with Stephen. Connor wasn't so easy to shake though, Aspen would know.

"Professor! Professor Cutter!" Finally, Connor caught up to them, and held out his hand.

"Connor Temple." He said. Cutter looked uninterested.

"Sorry, never heard of it. I think you want archaeology. If you go around up there to your right and keep on walking, it's on your left." He and Stephen pointed to the right, and Connor looked confused for a moment, then restarted mentally.

"No, it's not… it's not a place, it's my name. I'm one of your students." Cutter turned back, yet again, this time looking surprised.

"Really?"

"Uh-huh." Connor nodded.

"Well why… why I don't recognize you?" At this Connor looked a little uncomfortable.

"Well, you've never actually turned up for the seminars." At this, Cutter nodded and walked off again with Stephen.

"Uh-huh." Connor looked stunned for a moment, but then rushed after them again.

"Professor!" At this, Aspen started giggling. She shook her head. Poor Connor.

* * *

Aspen leant against the door to Cutter's office, listening to the snatches of conversation that escaped.

_"Don't touch anything. This is my laboratory technician, Stephen Hart."_

_"Hi."_

_"Hi."_There was the sound of footsteps, and then the shuffling of papers, a heavy thud, and Aspen winced, knowing that it was the sound of Connor's hard work being tossed in the trash. Sure enough:

_"Oh, actually, that's my dissertation." _Connor actually sounded indignant. Aspen stifled a giggle. There was a rustling, as if it was being rescued from the cruel confines of the trash can.

_"Yeah. You see I argued that all life on Earth derived from organisms carried here by alien spacecraft. It's pretty sexy stuff." _Aspen mentally face-palmed at hearing that and a thud resounded again. That'd be it being chucked in the trash again. Whoops.

_"It's a work in progress, really." _Connor sounded strangled.

_"Tell me what this is." _Cutter said.

_"A fish?" _Connor sounded confused by the question.

_"Obviously. It's a sarcopterygian. There's no trace of them in the fossil record for 70 million years, and then suddenly one of them just pops up in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Totally inexplicable in modern evolutionary terms. See, Darwin provides most of the answers, it's the pieces that don't fit that interest me." _Cutter's voice rang out again.

_"See, that's why I was wondering if you'd seen this."_ There was a rustle, and Aspen couldn't help but bet that it was the Newspaper being presented. Then there was the slight clack of an object being put down, and more footsteps and rustling.

"Some sort of gigantic, undiscovered predator." Connor sounded positively gleeful. She could actually see him bouncing on his toes through the small window of glass. There was another rustle and a snort and then:

"Oh no, no, no, no, no. This … this is the real thing." Connor sounded desperate. Now might be a good time to intervene. Aspen opened the door ever so slightly to peer down at the threesome.

"Connor, you should get out more. Go to a bar. Meet a nice girl. Life will seem a lot less confusing." Connor looked miffed at this statement.

"I've already got a girlfriend. Sort of." Well, he had a sibling relationship with a girl who could be more troublesome than a girlfriend; but that counted, right? Cutter took his jacket off, and stepped behind his desk with a disbelieving snort. Aspen had had enough. She rolled her eyes, before pushing the door all the way open and slipped inside, letting the door shut behind her with a clack.

"Sort of? Connor, honey – I'm heartbroken." Aspen said with a pout and a couple of fake sniffs, dramatic moment over, she moved to stand next to him, and propped her arm up on his shoulder, balancing her weight so she didn't knock him over.

"Who are you?" Cutter was brief and to the point.

"Aspen Wilder. I'm Connor's best friend… one of them any way." She shook her head flippantly, "You can call me Penny." She smiled and held out a hand. Cutter didn't take it.

"Or you can just be a grumpy git. Whichever." She withdrew the hand as Cutter rolled his eyes and Stephen started to sputter in the background. Connor looked horrified.

"Penn! That's my teacher!"

"Doesn't stop him from being a berk." She replied. Looking thoroughly mortified, Connor tried to steer the conversation back on track.

"That's not really the point. There's an eyewitness, claimed to have seen it." Cutter snorted in disgust.

"People claim to have seen the Loch Ness monster, that doesn't mean it's there." Out of the corner of her eye, Aspen could see Stephen nodding in agreement.

"Says you!" She snapped indignantly.

"Not now, obviously, because it died years ago" said Connor quickly. Cutter and Stephen looked at each other in disbelief as Connor continued.

"The Government, they took the body away and covered up the whole thing." Connor told them.

"I thought we agreed that it escaped through an underground trench and swam away into the sea!" Aspen grouched, gaining even odder looks from the disbelieving duo. Finally, it seemed that Cutter had had enough.

"This is just a hoax. Forget it." Cutter turned away, and almost as if in desperation, Connor suddenly blurted out:

"Your wife wouldn't have ignored it." Aspen winced as Cutter froze. Oh… Shit may just have hit the fan.

"My wife was a serious scientist. She wasn't a gullible monster hunter." At this, Connor looked like he understood that he'd just put his foot in it, big time.

"Sorry." Connor shifted his weight from one foot to the other, clearly displaying his discomfort.

"It's OK." But Cutter's voice said otherwise, so Connor kept his gaze down.

"I just thought you might want to check it out, that's all." Aspen put her hand on his shoulder.

"C'mon Con – We should go now." He put the newspaper away, as she steered him towards the door, inwardly praying for him to say that last little bit of information, the bit that would get his attention.

"It's not as though the Forest of Dean is far away though." Yes! Aspen started cheering inside. That'd do it. Cutter and Stephen both stiffened suddenly, and Aspen's inner cheerleader started waving her pom-poms in the air.

"The Forest of Dean?" Stephen straightened up quickly, turning to face Nick, who looked at him.

"If we leave now we could be there by lunch." He told Cutter. Cutter picked up his coat and they all headed for the truck. As they walked, Aspen couldn't help but wonder if Abby Maitland was still having problems with the lizards.

* * *

The drive didn't take long, and soon Cutter was questioning the guard who had seen the USSCA, Unidentified-Strange-and-Slightly-Creepy-Animal. They'd happened upon him while looking at a shredded truck. He seemed rather nervous.

"I'd just finished my rounds when I caught a glimpse of it on the monitor." Aspen was more interested in the truck. Suddenly the idea of the Gorgonopsid, who she knew to be the perpetrator, seemed altogether overwhelming, now that she was stood next to the truck that had been torn apart. The body of the truck had actually been slashed open, leaving great gashes in its sides.

"Can you imagine how much force it took to rip this thing open? Look at the size of the marks. If you want my opinion, I think it's…" Connor trailed off after a look from Cutter. Stephen was more interested in picking up a dead chicken.

"You don't, do you?" Aspen patted his shoulder comfortingly.

"Well, if I found these gouges in the wild, I'd be certain we were looking for a large predator." Stephen commented, and Aspen had to hold back a snicker, remembering Connor's undiscovered nickname for him, "Mighty Hunter".

"But we're in the Forest of Dean." Cutter said, clearly puzzled over the thought.

"It was huge and it was so fast. It was gone across the yard in a second." The guard seemed worried that they were going to say he was nuts.

"Gorgonopsid. Mammalian-like reptile. Big, mean, scary… Also – Very hungry. You don't want to meet it at dinner time." Aspen quipped, garnering her odd look from the guard, and some even odder ones from Connor, Cutter and Stephen.

"What?" Connor shook his head at her as Stephen approached the truck, more interested in the blood splashed across its side, than her little witticisms.

"Yes, Penn. Because a dinosaur decided to take a walk through the Forest of Dean." Connor said sarcastically, but shut up quickly when she glared at him.

"Well, there's blood." Aspen resisted rolling her eyes at Stephen. What else could it be? Fruit juice? As Cutter moved closer to the forest, Stephen stepped after him.

"Stephen. Come and give me a logical explanation for this." He scanned the forest, as if looking for something.

"It's a hoax, obviously." Stephen answered as he moved next to Cutter, stopping to take in the fact that the metal fence near the tree had been torn and twisted, ripped apart by something big and strong. For a moment he seemed to pause and Connor walked up beside them, Aspen in tow.

"Just a difficult one to pull off." Stephen swallowed nervously.

"Can I say something?" Connor asked, as Cutter moved closer to the wreckage that was what's left of the fence.

"Is he alright?" Connor said. Stephen sighed, and Aspen already knew what was coming next.

"Helen Cutter came to this area eight years ago to investigate a creature sighting. She disappeared in the forest. The body was never found. Just a rucksack. No blood, no clues, nothing. She just vanished." Connor swallowed as they stared at the ominous forest.

* * *

While Cutter was exploring the Hotel bar, and being _accosted_, if you could call it that, by Claudia Brown; Connor, Stephen and Aspen were waiting by Stephen's truck. The forest was quiet as Stephen paced around the clearing; the only noise that could really be distinguished was that of Connor tapping away on his computer.

"This database contains constantly updated information on all non-extinct vertebrates. I've been building it every spare second since I was 14." Connor told them proudly.

"It's impressive." Stephen actually did sound impressed… but only slightly. Luckily Connor didn't seem to notice, or he might have taken offence to his pet project being sniffed at.

"It's pretty cool, huh." Aspen waited for the inevitable.

"And slightly sad…" There it was; the disapproval… Aspen debated giving Stephen a quick smack up the head.

"You know we're not talking about a wildcat, don't you?" But Stephen's salvation arrived in the form of Cutter, and a woman who Aspen knew to be Claudia Brown.

"This is Claudia Brown from the Home Office. She'll be coming with us." Unfortunately, Connor's proverbial conspiracy-radar pinged at that moment.

"I knew it. It's a cover-up."

"What's he talking about?" Claudia seemed lost – It appeared that she wasn't aware of how it looked from their point of view.

"Connor never met a conspiracy theory he didn't like." Aspen rolled her eyes.

"Course he hasn't. He's got a brain, and very little to do with it. Sitting at college all day isn't very much stimulation, so he looks elsewhere." Claudia and Cutter both stared at her, while Connor smiled.

"Thanks Penn." She raised an eyebrow.

"That's not necessarily a good thing Conn." His face fell.

"Oh…"

Searching the forest was tiresome and terse, especially for Aspen, as she knew what was out there. With her nerves on edge, she had been quiet for a while, which was now unnerving Connor – the Penn that he knew never willingly shut up when there were people to be snarky with, and today was loaded with potential. But she hadn't even cracked a joke about over-compensating with flashy cars, not even once. Ever the curious one, Claudia had to point out the obvious:

"If there really were some creature around here, wouldn't the journalists have found it by now?"

"They wouldn't know what they were looking for." Cutter's reply was short and tense.

"But you do?" Claudia clearly wasn't impressed.

"Hmm. I've seen Stephen track wounded animals through the rainforest for up to 10 days at a time." Cutter told her.

"Not to mention wrestle an anaconda and save a whale." Connor snarked in an attempt to make Penn smile. He moved forwards to walk with Stephen, tugging Aspen along with him, leaving Claudia and Cutter to bring up the rear.

"Maybe there is something here, and maybe there isn't. Frankly, I doubt it." Cutter told Claudia in what may have been an attempt to reassure her.

"Cutter!" Stephen's shout alerted Cutter and Claudia to the giant cow that was positioned up in the tree.

"Okay, now I'm getting interested." Cutter said in a low voice.

"Professor, the compass is going haywire." Cutter turned his attention to Aspen and Connor who were staring at the compass that Connor handed to him. The needle was spinning.

Soon it started to get dark, but they carried on, Aspen snuggled into Connor's side. Not being able to see was making her uneasy. All this time to prep, and now she was starting to get nervous – in the kind of way that you do before your about to walk into a Final exam and you forgot to study.  
There was a low chittering noise, almost like a parrot, and then they entered a clearing to see a small blonde woman, who Aspen recognized as Abby Maitland, holding a bundle in her arms, and a rather angry looking Scutosaurus that was getting ready to charge.

The bundle squirmed and broke loose from Abby's arms, only for a small flying lizard to land in front of her. The dinosaur roared out a second challenge.

"Rex!" Abby whispered loudly, as the group came up behind her, staring at the Scutosaurus in wonder.

"Don't move." Cutter said in a low voice, which caused Abby to spin on the spot.

"Is it real?" She asked in a stunned voice, as she looked back at the large creature.

"Some kind of experiment, maybe. Hybrid, throwback. Who are you?" He answered, also starring in shock.

"Or maybe, it's a dinosaur." Aspen muttered sarcastically.

"Nah! Can't be," Whispered Connor, "could it?"

"Abby Maitland. I'm a keeper at Wellington Zoo." They refocused on the situation when Abby replied to Cutter, who approached the dinosaur to get a better look, Stephen followed him slowly.

"It's a reptile. Five or six tons at least. Large supratemporal bosses. Huge oesteoderms on its back… It must be some kind of anapsid."

"A tortoise?" Abby said in amazement, before flinching as the Scutosaurus roared, which made the entire group back up.

"Stay in his field of vision, you're making him nervous." Abby said quietly.

"I was right. It was a dinosaur in that warehouse." Connor's excitement isn't contagious though; he raised his phone and took a picture, the flash irritating the dinosaur. Claudia, however, snatched the phone.

"Whatever it is, it's classified until I figure out what the hell to do about it." She said tersely.

"Oi! Give him the bloody phone. The picture is easy enough to delete." Aspen snapped at the woman.

"Bloody hell, there's two of them." Said Stephen in shock. He was of course, referring to the dinosaurs, not the women. Rex had just reappeared from wherever he had been hiding.

"Oh great" Aspen sighed.

"Where did that come from?" Cutter asked. At that, Aspen snarked out:

"I'll bet you a tenner that it was through a rip in the fabric of time that looks like light being shone through shattered glass." She said with irritably. Cutter and Stephen looked up at her in amazement, before Cutter laughed.

"Alright – You're on. Make it twenty?"

"Why not?" She smirked. That was pizza night paid for.

* * *

Abby, Claudia and Cutter made their way back to the house that belonged to the boy who had found Rex, and Claudia stayed outside to make a call on her phone.

"No, I can't use the police. This is too sensitive." She paused and listened to the reply.

"There are lives at stake here." Another pause, then:

"Listen, I don't need you to tell me how junior I am, okay? You're just going to have to trust me. Now get somebody down here fast." She snapped the phone shut in anger and let out a breath as the weight of the situation finally started to settle. This wasn't just a dream.

Up in Ben's room, Ben being Rex's owner; Cutter, Abby and Claudia discussed the situation with Ben's mother while Ben protested loudly as Cutter looked at the damaged window and Ben's mother attempted to straighten the room.

"I'll be making a complaint. She's filled his head with all sorts of stupid ideas. Just look at the state of his room!" Ben's mother ranted angrily.

"It was the dinosaur." Ben protested, and in an attempt to placate the frantic woman, Cutter spoke up in a low calming voice.

"The simple truth is Miss Maitland got carried away. Ben's pet was nothing more exotic than Draco Volans. It's a Southeast Asian flying lizard." Cutter was clearly also trying to disguise Rex's unique traits. But Ben wouldn't be deterred.

"There was a monster though. It chased us. Tell them Abby." He begged in despair, Abby swallowed.

"I don't really know what happened Ben. We just got frightened, that's all." Abby's face betrayed how terrible she felt about lying to him.

"But I saw the past. Prehistoric times. I was there." Ben said desperately. Aspen held her breath and clung to Connor's sleeve in trepidation.

"You saw the past?" Cutter was surprised.

"There was desert and rocks and things." Ben stormed out of the room. His mother sighed and left the room saying:

"I blame the telly. Excuse me."

Outside the house, as they headed towards the car, Claudia said:

"I know you feel bad about lying, but if word of this gets out, who knows what the consequences might be. You're both going to have to sign the Official Secrets Act." Cutter almost stumbled in surprise.

"Whoa, when did this become an Official Secret?" He asked in shock.

"About ten minutes after I finally persuaded my boss not to have me sectioned." Claudia answered in a huff.

"Yeah, well, right now we have a far more urgent problem. That creature we saw may be many things, but it's certainly not a ruthless predator that drags its prey up into trees." He said, in a worried tone.

"Well you can't be sure of that." Claudia sniffed, clearly desperate for the ordeal to be over and done with.

"He can. It's a herbivore. Pure veggie." Abby cut in.

"You mean there's another one out there?" She looked like she was going to faint.

"What did Ben mean when he talked about seeing the past? These animals have to be coming from somewhere." Cutter said as they walked.

"What are you saying?" She asked, worried.

"I'm saying that the answer is in that forest and maybe Ben found it."

* * *

Stephen, Aspen and Connor waited in the forest, keeping an eye on the scutosaurus. Stephen sat against a tree, while Connor stood next to him, an arm around Aspen, as they all stared at the scutosaurus.

"You know this is going to win me the Nobel Prize." Connor said, practically in disbelief. Aspen rolled her eyes at him.

"You don't know what we're dealing with yet." Stephen said, sounding rather annoyed.

"Come on. It looks like a dinosaur. It behaves like a dinosaur. It's a dinosaur. It's the missing link to the ancient past. And I discovered it." Connor said excitedly, and Aspen elbowed him in the side. Hard.

"Ow!" He said.

"Shut up!" She muttered, trying to relay the severity of the situation. She stood up and moved around to the other side of the clearing.

"Stephen!" Cutter shouted, as the rest of the group ran to catch up with them, starling the dinosaur in the process. It moved away quickly, and Connor and Stephen only just managed to get out of its way, narrowly avoiding becoming squished into pancakes.

"Whoa, where's it going?" Connor asked in amazement.

"Let him go! It's scared. Let's see where it thinks it's safe." Cutter commanded, and they all followed the scutosaurus until it went through the glowing light that was the anomaly. In shock, they stopped to stare at the glowing ball of shattered light.

"That's not possible." Said Stephen, remembering Aspen's earlier prediction.

"Where's it gone?" Claudia asked, conveying her confusion.

"Home." Cutter turned to look at Aspen who was grinning, and groaned.

"Seriously?" He said in a strangled voice. Aspen only smirked, and Connor laughed.

"Pay up!"

* * *

**12.12.2012**

**This chapter has now been proof read on paper with a highlighter. If something has been missed, please let me know.**

**In this fiction (which will cover Season 1 of Primeval, other seasons may or may not be written) my character Aspen Wilder is the insert. She knows the timeline, and she plans to change it. How? Well that comes later. I haven't decided if she's like Matt Anderson, or if she was accidentally shifted through dimensions – it's all up in the air at the moment. Which would you prefer? Let me know.**

**As to what Aspen looks like – this one was tricky. She's got light red hair, pale skin and gray eyes. The closest thing I could find is to say that she resembles Nicole Fox, except I think Nicole Fox is too refined to say that they're a perfect match.**

**Remember:**

**1. Aspen is 23, which makes her 4 years younger that Connor, and 2 younger than Abby, this doesn't make her a fool though.**

**2. Aspen only resembles Nicole fox in the coloring. She is not a supermodel and I have no intention of making her out to be this perfect idea of what men want.**

**3. She's 5'7, and reasonably curvy, but she's not the type to date, or go looking for guys. She wears reading glasses for working with computers, and usually wears her hair tied back in a loose braid or a high ponytail. She's the pullover and jeans type of girl, with sensible, but pretty boots. Her signature pair is a set of light gray, flat bottomed snow boots. She also wears a pendant 24/7 that she refuses to say where she got, only ever saying. "I've had it for a really long time"**

**Images of Nicole Fox/Aspen's lookalike:**

**(1) si0 dot twimg dot com/profile_images/2790743190/13a7879d749cd0705c7c9860d6fe bae2 dot jpeg**

**(2) www dot polyvore dot com/cgi/img-thing? dot out=jpg&size=l&tid=33464014**

**(3) 25 dot media dot tumblr dot com/tumblr_lavsxoHq2J1qb9gywo1_500 dot jpg**

**Aspen's Pendant:****lunarieen dot deviantart dot com/art/LUNARTION-341618122**


	2. Chapter 2: Past and Present Collide

**Arguing with Time**

**Sophia Conrad**

**1.1: Past and Present Collide**

* * *

_"Heh, Heh! It's brilliant. Oh… that was my front door key… "_

―_Connor Temple_

* * *

By the time that the sun rose the next morning, the area surrounding the anomaly had been secured by Claudia's backup, and all they could do was watch – or snore, if you were Aspen. Nobody had been home, and everybody seemed to be running on fumes alone. They'd taken shifts in the night, so they could at least get some sleep, but nobody had really been able to sleep with all the excitement going on – unless of course if you were Aspen who had conked out on Connor's shoulder around midnight.

"Come on lads. Look lively." The shout woke her up, and with a jerk she lost her balance. Pushing herself up off the ground she blinked away the last dregs of sleep to see boxes of gear being unloaded from the jeeps. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Connor's pen being drawn in by the magnetic field.

"My pen." He let go, and it was sucked into the anomaly.

"I'll buy you a new one." She said with a yawn, and Connor frowned.

"That explains the compass going crazy." He said thoughtfully.

"What could cause a magnetic field so powerful?" Cutter asked from the other side of the clearing.

"Maybe it's an alien spaceship." Connor always had the most outlandish theories. Aspen snorted.

"Yes Connor, and they're going to swoop in and take us away to experiment on us all." She said sarcastically. He perked up for a second but stopped when he realized she wasn't serious.

"Spoilsport." She stuck her tongue out at him. Across the clearing she could see Stephen handing Abby a coffee… although it could have been tea, and caught snatches of their conversation.

"_How are you feeling?"_

_"Confused, frightened. Exhilarated."_

_"Snap." _When Rex was carried off, Abby expressed her concern, but when Cutter spoke, everybody paid attention.

"Everything we've seen about the animals so far is consistent with vertebrates that last appeared in the fossil record hundreds of millions of years ago."

"You mean they're like creatures from the past?" Aspen suppressed a laugh – Claudia was being a little slow, but it could have been the shock. After all, who would expect dinosaurs to come charging in?

"No, I mean they are creatures from the past." In the background, Aspen could see Connor playing with the magnetic field like a kid.

"Connor – be careful. You don't want to end up locked out of your flat." She called over to him.

"Chill Penn, This is awesome. I won't do anythi-" He stopped mid-sentence as a set of keys flew through the anomaly.

"Oh, that was my front door key." He grimaced.

"What did I just say?" She shook her head. "You are not sleeping on my couch tonight!"

"Cutter, we have to go now." It was Claudia.

"You've got your own experts." He said gruffly.

"They didn't see what we saw, and they don't know what you know." It wasn't a request. Claudia turned around and walked back to the car, as Stephen moved to stand beside Cutter, who was staring at the anomaly.

"You're thinking about Helen, aren't you?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"It explains everything." Cutter sounded… lost.

"Except why she didn't come back." There was no answer.

* * *

Claudia had pulled Cutter and Abby back to the office to sign papers, something to do with the Official Secrets Act, but when Aspen was told to follow, she promptly told the woman:

"If you think, I'm going to leave my brother in a forest with a killer, man-eating dinosaur then you have another thing coming. Don't bother trying to make me leave, or I _will_ borrow that nice man's taser." She pointed at Captain Ryan, and at that; Claudia had shut up and left. It seemed she hadn't been willing to call Aspen's bluff.

So Aspen followed Connor and Stephen as they trekked through the forest, Stephen carefully scanning the underbrush as he followed an unseen trail, trying to ignore that noise made by Connor tripping over every other stick in his path.

"Something large has been through here, recently." Stephen pointed to the trail.

"I'm not, um, really outdoorsy. I have sinus issues and allergies. I'll write you a list." Connor said, stopping in his tracks when Stephen held a hand up to silence him.

"We can't rely on the army to find this creature, so just keep looking. It's so close I can sense it." Stephen moved forwards, Connor however seemed nervous.

"Shouldn't we just wait for the Professor?" But he followed anyway, silent for some minutes before piping up again.

"So, what do you think of Abby?" Aspen suppressed a snort, and felt the need to smack him upside the head.

"She's okay. Why?" Stephen didn't seem to be paying any serious attention, more interested in finding the end of the trail than gossiping.

"I was picking up some heat between us. You get an instinct for these kind of things." At this, Aspen really did snort.

"I thought you already had a girlfriend." Aspen laughed, and said:

"He means he has me – apparently I'm just as much trouble, but not as dangerous because I won't actually kill him." Connor winced at hearing this.

"That's practical for a night out." Stephen said, clearly being sarcastic.

"Actually it is – I save him from getting his ass kicked regularly." Aspen chirped with a smile. Connor turned a rather nice shade of pink.

"Yeah. Well. Do you think Abby likes me?" Stephen turned back to Connor, and said:

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Aspen snickered.

"Cause he's making sure that you aren't interested." Connor turned pink again.

"All right. I might." He said grudgingly. Stephen shook his head and continued walking, while Connor zoned out into his dream world.

_"_It's not everyday you meet a potential girlfriend. And find a dinosaur." Aspen shook her head and carried on. Suddenly Connor realized he was being left behind.

"Stephen? Stephen!" He ran to catch up with Aspen who pointed to where Stephen was; they joined him and carried on, only stopping when they came across a large and rather unusual footprint.

"What's this?" Stephen said as he pointed to the footprint.

"I think the scientific term is 'really bad news'." Connor said, only to be smacked upside the head as Aspen lost her temper.

"Ow!" Sitting down on a tree stump, Connor pulled his laptop out of his bag, and immediately called up his database. After a few minutes of tapping away, he looked up.

"Okay. My best guess? The creature we found was some kind of scutosaurus, late Permian era. That footprint? Definitely not the same animal. If we are talking late Permian, then this little charmer is the prime suspect." Stephen stood up and moved next to Connor.

_"_It's a gorgonopsid. It's a compact killing machine, and it's got incredible power. Stephen, if it is still out there, then you have to find it. Fast." Stephen's eyes widened. That wasn't good news.

"What about you?" Stephen turned back to Connor.

"You, mighty hunter. Me, I'm more logistics and, you know, backup." Aspen patted Stephen on the shoulder.

"Just imagine it as a really big, really fast, really hungry house cat. And it wants its dinner soon." She told him, Stephen gulped audibly, but nevertheless stood up and started following the trail. After he left, Connor stilled, and turned to Aspen, his eyes wide.

"Hang on, a Gorgonopsid? That's what you said yesterday. How did you know?" Aspen however wasn't paying attention; she was staring in the direction that Stephen had gone, and bolted after him.

"Stay here Connor!" She had a hunter to catch.

* * *

A few hours later, Cutter had returned with Claudia and Abby… and a large team of backup who set up a ring of tents to protect the instruments once it started raining. Stephen and Aspen still weren't back yet, and Connor's attempts at contacting them on Cutter's phone weren't working.

"Will you call Stephen again?" Cutter asked. Connor dialed the number again, but hung up and shook his head as the call went dead.

"He's not answering." As he spoke, Claudia walked up to them.

"It's 18:55. I want you back no later than 20:00 hours. If the first contact works out, we'll go from there." A SAF soldier stepped up behind her, dressed in black, carrying a large gun. Cutter nodded his head in the soldier's direction.

"What's he doing here?" Cutter asked.

"This is Captain Ryan. He's a Gulf war veteran with extensive desert experience. We don't know how dangerous it will be on the other side of the anomaly. No arguments, Cutter. He goes as well." Claudia told him, a stern look on her face. Cutter and Ryan shook hands as Abby headed toward them, Rex in her arms. She passed him over to Cutter, and Claudia and Captain Ryan walked away, towards the anomaly.

"Please take care of him. Look after yourself too." She said with a worried expression on her face.

"Yeah, we'll be fine." He promised her, and walked towards the anomaly to join Ryan. Together they stepped through, and all anybody else could do was wait. To pass the time, Connor pulled out a notepad from his pocket, his pen falling out as he did so. But this time, it wasn't sucked through.

"My pen. The magnetic field didn't take it. The anomaly is getting weaker." As he spoke, everybody turned to the watch the anomaly.

An hour later, after it had gotten dark, the anomaly started pulsing, preparing to close. With only moments left, Cutter and Ryan hurtled through; the anomaly closed behind them, and hit the ground with a crash, causing everybody to look in their direction.

"Cutter?" Connor asked in amazement.

"Look!" Said Abby, pointing at them.

"Cutter!" Connor shouted.

"They're back."Claudia said as she, Connor and Abby rushed over to them. Everybody started talking over each other; finally Claudia came to her senses.

"Can I have a medic?" She shouted.

"What did you see?" Claudia asked Cutter, who was clutching a camera in his hands. Nobody noticed that Abby was moving away from the main group towards Rex, who had looped back and returned to the forest earlier on.

"There's a camp. Looks like a military camp. You're not going to believe it." Ryan told them.

"What was it like?" Connor asked, as everybody laughed in relief that they made it back. Above them, the gorgonopsid was stalking them from the trees.

"God, you've got to see it." Said Ryan who was congratulated by Claudia, just before a loud roar filled the clearing. Everybody panicked the civilians fled the approaching dinosaur, and the military moved towards it, their guns raised to take aim.

"Oh my God! Run!"

"Run!" The sound of gunfire rattled off behind them, but nothing made contact.

_"_Moving target! Hold your fire!"

"Ryan! Clear the area!" Claudia shouted. In the confusion Connor tripped over, but scrambled upright and out of the way, Abby right behind him, while Cutter and Claudia run the other way. A scream rang out as the dinosaur threw one of the soldiers in the air, and then knocked over the floodlights that were set up.

"Cutter!" Claudia shouted as she tripped, Cutter ran back to help her.

"Claudia. Quick." He said as he hauled her to her feet and they started running again. There was a loud blaring of a car horn and the flash of headlights, as the 4x4 that contained Stephen and Aspen crashed into the clearing, heading straight for the gorgonopsid. There was a loud crunch, as the truck slammed into the dinosaur, which went down with a sickening thud, leaving a large dent in the 4x4. The doors opened and slammed shut as Aspen and Stephen got out. Stephen walked towards Nick and Claudia, who were looking at him in shock. Then, the gorgonopsid's eyes opened and it roared, causing them to spin around.

"Stephen! Catch!" It was Aspen, who tossed him the gun that had been in the 4x4, and he caught it, narrowly managing to kill the Gorgonopsid.

* * *

The next day found Cutter and Claudia in one of the offices in the Home Office building with Lester who were looking at a screen.

"We developed the film in the camera you brought back." Lester told them, as he flicked through the short slideshow on the screen.

"It's her. It's Helen." His voice sounded hoarse.

"I'm sorry for your personal loss, Professor." said Lester.

"But this camp that you discovered. There were no clues as to who made it, or what it was for? The thought that someone was there before us is far from reassuring." There was a pause before he continued.

"And I used to think the EU Common Agricultural Policy was far-fetched. Still, at least the immediate crisis is over." During his little speech, Cutter walked over to the window, looking out of it he said:

"Some, force, out there, ripped the boundaries of space and time to shreds. Maybe it's happened before, in which case, every single thing we thought we knew about the Universe is wrong. Or, this is the first time. In which case, what changed? What happens next? Believe me; it's very, very far from over." Cutter walked past Lester and Claudia, and out of the office to where Abby, Connor, Aspen and Stephen were waiting for him. They followed him as he left, and fell into step with him.

"So... What now?" Connor asked.

"Isn't it obvious? We get to fight dinosaurs." Aspen told him with a grin.

* * *

**13.12.2012**

**AN: I'm formatting it as I go, into a PDF for those of you who might be interested in reading it on your Kindle. I'll only be releasing it at the end of each story I do to save on confusion. If, at the end, you want it a copy, leave an Email I can send it to in the bottom of a review with the phrase "PDF Please", and I'll put you on the mailing list.**

**Reminder:**

**1. Aspen is 23, which makes her 4 years younger than Connor, and 2 younger than Abby, this doesn't make her a fool though.**

**2. Aspen only resembles Nicole fox in the coloring. She is not a supermodel and I have no intention of making her out to be this perfect idea of what men want.**

**3. She's 5'7, and reasonably curvy, but she's not the type to date, or go looking for guys. She wears reading glasses for working with computers, and usually wears her hair tied back in a loose braid or a high ponytail. She's the pullover and jeans type of girl, with sensible, but pretty boots. Her signature pair is a set of light gray, flat bottomed snow boots. She also wears a pendant 24/7 that she refuses to say where she got it; only ever saying. "I've had it for a really long time"**

**Images of Nicole Fox/Aspen's lookalike:**

**(1) si0 dot twimg dot com/profile_images/2790743190/13a7879d749cd0705c7c9860d6fe bae2 dot jpeg**

**(2) www dot polyvore dot com/cgi/img-thing? dot out=jpg&size=l&tid=33464014**

**(3) 25 dot media dot tumblr dot com/tumblr_lavsxoHq2J1qb9gywo1_500 dot jpg**

**Aspen's Pendant: lunarieen dot deviantart dot com/art/LUNARTION-341618122**


	3. Chapter 3: Pranks and Payback

**Arguing with Time**

**Sophia Conrad**

**1.2: Pranks and Payback**

* * *

_"__I don't like anyone to whom the term "maverick" can be applied. Cutter practically owns the copyright.__"_

―_James Lester_

* * *

"_London Underground apologizes for the delay to the journey due to signaling problems at Parsons Green." _The driver's voice echoed over the PA of the train. A girl stood up, and made her way to the small window, she opened it in an attempt to cool down. She leant against the door and read her book, trying to ignore whatever was catching on her neck. She turned to move it, but screamed when she saw a giant spider attempting to climb through the small window. She slammed the window shut, cutting off one of its legs in the process. The leg fell to the floor and twitched.

* * *

In the cafeteria at CMU, Connor sat with his friends Tom and Duncan, talking avidly about the events that took place in the Forest of Dean.

"They're called anomalies, but I can't say any more. Official Secrets Act. But I will tell you this, I've seen a gorgonopsid. Face-to-face. And trust me, it's not pretty." Connor whispered excited.

"Just how stupid do you think we are Conn?" Tom asked him.

"But it's all true. All right, I swear on my Empire Strikes Back first edition poster, signed by Luke Skywalker and David Prowse." Connor vowed solemnly.

"Ooh, careful. That's invoking a sacred relic." Tom said, hissing at the possibility of sacrilege.

"Yeah. Like the Bible." Duncan added. Connor shook his head and sighed.

"Yeah, I know what a sacred relic is, Duncan. I have seen Raiders of the Lost Ark." Connor said dismissively.

"Space-time anomalies and dinosaurs. Sounds like someone's been over-doing the Playstation." Tom said, sniggering.

"I can prove it… Only I'm not allowed to." Connor frowned, trying to decide how he could prove it, without getting into trouble with Aspen. Screw the government; they weren't likely to hang his underwear from the school flagpole if he told anybody.

"Right." Tom wasn't buying it.

"You know, one day you're going to be gutted you didn't believe me." Connor said grumpily.

"Believe what?" Aspen popped up behind him.

"Nothing!" Connor panicked, Aspen would kill him if she knew what he had told them.

"Huh. Alright then. You can have your secrets. I just thought you might want to go get a coffee or something before I head off to do some work." Connor leapt to his feet.

"Yeah, sure. Let's go." They waved goodbye to Tom and Duncan, and left.

"He's lost it." Duncan said to Tom once they were out of sight.

"Totally. That's the saddest thing I've seen since Matrix Revolutions. What's weird is he actually seems to believe it." Tom said. Then he nudged Duncan, and they shared a mischievous look.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

* * *

They sat for an hour at the coffee shop discussing the anomalies and the creatures that had come through, but most importantly, Aspen had wanted to know if Connor intended to stick with the team, to which had responded to with a firm 'Yes'. When Aspen finally picked up her bag and left, Connor had opened his laptop to search for any more strange sightings. In mere minutes, the laptop was shut again, and a grinning Connor was on his way to Abby's flat. He stood out in front of her door and banged hard on it.

"Abby, open up! I think I've found another anomaly." He shouted.

"Two secs!" Abby's voice shouted back at him. Moments later, the door opened to reveal Abby… sans trousers.

"Huh." She said.

"Hi. Wow!" Abby rolled her eyes, and stood back.

"Come in." she said. Connor was inside in a flash.

"This place is super cool. I mean it is… wow." Connor said, and turned around to realize, for the first time, that Abby was in her underwear. He turned pink

_"_Is it me or is it just really hot in here?" Abby's eyes widened and she nearly bolted for her room.

"Um, I'll get changed." On her way out of the room, Connor handed her the page he had printed off before heading over to her flat.

"Here you should read this." He said. She took the piece of paper from him, and gave it a once over as she pulled a pair of jeans on.

"Where did you get this?" she asked, calling from her room.

"Internet. On the weird sightings forum. It looks to me like another anomaly. We should check it out." He shouted back.

"What does Cutter say?" She asked as she walked back into the room.

"I haven't actually told him yet. You know, I could be wrong, and I don't want him to think I'm an idiot." Connor answered her reluctantly. Abby snorted.

"He already thinks you're an idiot." Connor's face fell.

"Right, well for his sake, I hope he doesn't ever say that to Aspen. You don't want to know what happened last time." At this, Abby gave him an odd look, to which he replied with mutterings about a snobby, up-himself well-to-do cricket player needing his wrist popped back into place.

"Come on, think how impressed he'll be if I'm right." He prodded her.

"I still think you should tell him." She said, disapprovingly. There was a chirping noise, and Connor tugged on the blanket concealing it. The blanket fell away to reveal:

"Rex?" Connor asked accusingly. Abby shifted her weight from foot to foot.

"Um, he came back." She supplied, sounding rather feeble.

"Kidnapping helpless lizards?" He raised an eyebrow in mock-disappointment.

"I didn't want Lester's people getting hold of him again." Abby protested.

"That explains why you're keeping the place so hot." Connor said.

"You won't tell anyone?" Abby begged.

"No, I mean, you can rely on me. So how's about it. You in?"

"Um, maybe we should just let someone know." Abby still seemed wary.

"Come on, this is our chance to show him that we're useful. Come on Abby. We're pals now right? Right?" Connor must have had built in puppy-dog-eyes, because Abby caved in record time.

"Mhmm." She said as they walked out the door.

"You never know. We could find a new little playmate for Rex. They could get together and talk about really old times." Connor joked.

* * *

"So, tell me the plan." Cutter said, as he and Aspen walked into his office with Claudia in tow.

"What plan? What else can we do?" Claudia said.

"Well, we could start off by telling everyone the truth." Cutter said. Sadly, he wasn't joking.

"Uh, no." Claudia said with an alarmed look on her face.

"Why?" Cutter asked.

"Right now, this is just a rumor mill for Internet conspiracy freaks and we can contain that. If the public finds out, there will be mass panic and hysteria. It'd be chaos." Claudia fussed.

"Cutter, we don't have a choice." Aspen told him.

"A cover up. Connor will be thrilled." Cutter grunted.

"It's not a cover up. Well, okay, it is. But we have to do it." Claudia clearly didn't like the term 'Cover-up'.

"Speaking of, has anybody seen Connor?" Aspen asked. He hadn't been answering her calls. Stephen poked his head around the door.

"Text from Abby. Connor thinks he's onto another anomaly. They've gone to investigate." He told them

"Where are they?" Cutter was on his feet in an instant.

"New Forest. She's not exactly sure where." Stephen told them.

"Oh, because this day just keeps getting better and better." Aspen said sarcastically. She should have seen it coming.

* * *

"Connor, wake up!" Abby's voice cut through the fog clouding Connor's mind that was called sleep.

"What?" he asked, rolling over and opening his eyes to see movement in the trees, movement made by something big.

_"_Oh my god. Quick." He scrambled to his feet, and they made a break for it, but their escape route was cut off. In a semi-heroic gesture, Connor put himself between the moving trees and Abby. He frowned as a whirring noise filled the area, and the 'creature' collapsed, revealing it to be a fake. Cautiously, the pair stepped towards it.

_"_Careful, it bites!" It was Tom. He and Duncan stood behind it, laughing.

_"_You idiots!" Connor was furious. But before he could shout at them again, the sound of Police Sirens filled the air and they were gone.

"You have got to be kidding me." He sighed in disbelief. Aspen was going to murder him.

* * *

Soon, it was morning in the New Forest, and the Police were finishing up; Cutter was squaring things with them, as Stephen investigated the robot dinosaur. Aspen stood with Abby and Connor at the river's edge in silence, she saw the policeman say something to Cutter, who nodded, and turned around to join them as the police left.

"Look, I know what you're going to say." Connor's voice trembled.

"We're sorry." Abby cut in, looking thoroughly miserable.

"The police aren't going to prosecute you for trespassing, but supposing it had been a predator? What were you going to do? Tame it? You knew exactly what was at stake but you just couldn't keep your mouth shut." Cutter told them angrily.

"It's just so big. I had to tell somebody. I'm sorry. I am. I blew it." Connor said desperately.

"Connor, that's not the point. What if they had stumbled onto something real and been hurt? What if you'd been hurt? What about Abby? It's a secret for a reason." Aspen told him, before Cutter interrupted,

"Go back to college. Get on with your work. I'll find you another supervisor." Connor's face fell, and Abby stepped up to defend him.

"I'm just as much to blame as he is." She told Cutter.

"Just as stupid, maybe. But you didn't shout your mouth off and you've still got skills I can use. You stay. Aspen, you too." Cutter turned and walked away towards Stephen, Abby in tow.

"No." Aspen said with a glare. Cutter turned around.

"Excuse me?" He said. Aspen's glare doubled as Connor lifted his head in surprise.

"Maybe you haven't noticed, but Connor is the only family I've got. He's my brother, and if you think you can deny him, but expect me to just tag along like a good little sidekick; then you've got another thing coming." Cutter opened his mouth to speak.

"No! Don't you dare interrupt," Aspen shouted. "You don't know how brilliant he really is. He built a database that contains hundreds, if not thousands of creatures that you may one day need. He's quick on his feet, and loyal, and just a little bit silly. But he'll never leave you." Aspen sighed, and shook her head.

"You disappoint me Cutter. I expected better." Connor opened his mouth to protest.

"Penn – don't give this up over my mistake. I screwed up, not you-" But he was interrupted.

"Get in the car Connor. We're leaving." She told him. Connor did as he was told.

"You're making a mistake." Cutter told her.

"Throwing away something so amazing, all because of one silly boy." He shook his head, and turned away again.

"You're the one making a mistake. I just hope you realize that before anybody else gets hurt." She told him.

"Is that a threat?" Cutter asked, frowning.

"It's a warning." She said, eyes narrowed, before leaving.

* * *

"_All passengers please vacate the station." _The station intercom blared, before repeating.

"_All passengers please vacate the station immediately."_

A subway worker had been taken to hospital, rambling about monsters, and so the team had been called in. They stood outside of the subway station, as they prepped for an investigation. Claudia arrived soon after, with Captain Ryan and his men in tow.

"We should be going down there with them."Cutter protested as Claudia walked over to the entrance.

"Special Forces go in first. You didn't think Lester was going to let you have it all your own way?" She told him.

"They don't even know what they're looking for." He said, frustrated.

"Well, there can't be that many different types of venomous predator under the Aldwych." Stephen said as he fell into step with them. Claudia snorted,

"You should see the last tube home on a Friday night." She told them wryly, as Ryan and his men entered the station.

Not long after, they came out again looking dazed and disorientated. They were immediately checked over by the medics Claudia had called to the scene. When one of the soldiers was found to have been bitten, the medic waved Cutter over to show him a puncture wound on the soldier's neck. Stephen, Claudia and Ryan followed.

"They were like spiders, but with pincers, not fangs. Some of them over a meter long. Horrible little…" The captain trailed off, he actually sounded shaken.

"Look, tell me how you feel." Cutter asked Captain Ryan.

"Sick. My ears are ringing…" the disorientated man replied.

"Any blurred vision?" Cutter pressed.

"No. But there's something else. The gunshots were too bright, like fireworks." The soldier said as he focused on the memory of being down in the tunnels.

"That's classic signs of excess oxygen in the atmosphere." Stephen told him. They left Ryan to look after his men, and Abby joined them.

"A richer, more heavily oxygenated air must be seeping through from another anomaly. We're not talking about the Permian era any longer. This is much, much earlier." He shook his head, clearly worried.

"How much earlier?" Claudia wanted to know.

"Maybe the Carboniferous about 300 million years ago. We really need to see exactly what these creatures look like. I need to see this for myself." Decision made, he wasn't taking no for an answer.

"Okay, go." Claudia could take a hint.

"Lets get some gear." Cutter told the others and the left to get suited up.

* * *

Connor sat on the bench looking pitiful. He hadn't moved since they had gotten back to CMU.

"You know he's wrong." Aspen told him.

"No, he was right. I am an idiot" Connor sighed. Aspen laughed, which made Connor look up sharply. She sat down and put her arm around him.

"He's wrong Connor. He just can't see how special you are. He's a man – unfortunately, you lot can be so blind sometimes."

"Hey!" Connor protested, and they both laughed.

"Come on," she told him. "I have something to show you."

* * *

Abby laced up her boots in preparation for the excursion underground, and went to stand by Stephen and Cutter.

"Oh, you wear it well. You look good." Stephen joked as Ryan walked up to hand Cutter a gun.

"Ah. No, we need torches. The most powerful you can find." He said.

"Take night vision goggles." Ryan offered as a compromise. Stephen shook his head.

"Vision isn't the issue." He said as Claudia walked towards them.

"Well, the pest controller died a few minutes ago. They're running tests on our casualty now." Claudia told them with a sigh, and Abby moved off towards the entrance.

"What's she doing?" Claudia asked, leaning around Cutter to see what Abby was doing.

"Abby's got more practical experience with animals than the rest of us put together." Cutter told her as they walked towards Abby.

"I don't care if she's Doctor Doolittle. Sorry, it's just too risky." She wasn't buying it.

"I can help. I've just finished a study in insect behavior." Abby informed them.

"Torches." Cutter said, and walked away with Ryan and Claudia.

"Is that true?" Stephen asked her.

"Kind of. To tell you the truth, spiders aren't really my thing." Abby shuddered.

"Yeah, well, technically these are probably scorpions." He told her with a wan smile.

"I feel better already." The sarcasm was evident as she spoke. Cutter came back holding the torches, and they headed below. Walking into the store room, they came across a spider that fled from the torchlight.

"On the ground. That's what I thought; they're sensitive to the light." Cutter told them as they walked into the tunnel, Cutter in the lead with Abby bringing up the rear. Another spider crawled across the wall, unnoticed until Abby spied it.

"Oh! Does anyone have a really big slipper?" She asked, disgusted. They walked into yet another room, this one was filled with spiders.

"I don't like this." Cutter said in a low voice. They moved further into the room, and Stephen gagged as he stood on one of the spiders, and it went squish. Abby found a wire fence at the side of the room that had a large hole in it.

"Cutter." She said, pointing the torchlight in the direction of the hole, and moved through it. Cutter and Stephen followed her to see an anomaly on the other side of the wire fencing.

"What's happening to us?" Cutter asked. While the stood there, several spiders made a break for the anomaly and returned to their time period. Surprised, Abby dropped her torch as they passed her. She bent down to pick it up, and as she stood up again, she caught a glimpse of movement at the back of the room.

"Guys." She said quietly, and Cutter and Stephen turned to see the same thing.

"What is it?" Abby asked.

"I don't know." Stephen whispered.

"It's not a spider." Of that Cutter was sure. Suddenly the creature lunged at them, revealing itself as a very large, very aggressive centipede. Stephen and Abby dove back through the fence, but before Cutter could follow, it blocked him. He threw a box at it, and for a moment it retreated. The radio at on his belt squawked.

"Cutter, what's going on?" Claudia demanded over the radio.

"There's another creature down here," He told her.

"But don't worry, we're coming out. Stephen, Stephen can you see it?"He asked.

"No!" came Stephen's answer. There was a clatter above him, and Stephen looked up in time to see the giant centipede crawling across the ceiling above him.

"Stephen!" Abby shouted. Stephen pushed her out of the way as the large Arthropleurid struck at where she had been standing, and threw one of the boxes at it. It wasn't intimidated, and kept advancing. Cutter whistled, and it turned in his direction.

"Go!" Cutter shouted.

"Nick!" Stephen wasn't going without an argument.

"Go, go! Get Abby out of here!" Cutter's tone was firm, and Stephen wavered.

"Come on!" He said, pulling her from the room.

"No!" She wasn't keen on the idea of leaving Cutter either. With Abby and Stephen gone, the huge bug turned to Cutter, its pincers clicking menacingly.

"Damn." Cutter muttered. He ran to the back of the room where another door was located, threw himself through it, and slammed it shut, bracing against the doorframe as the hungry centipede slammed against it. Looking around, Cutter can see a new set of tunnels, and as the banging stopped, he stepped away from the still door.

"Nick." A voice echoed in the tunnel.

"Hello?" Cutter replied.

"Nick." The voice was distorted by the acoustics of the tunnel.

"Who's there?" Cutter called out. He left the door and went deeper into the abandoned tunnel. There was movement, and Cutter recognized the shadowy figure.

"Helen!" He shouted, racing after the shadow.

* * *

**13.12.2012**

**AN:**** Another chapter done. I do appreciate review you know. :) Does anybody know where I can find the Primeval scripts for Season 2 onwards. I only have up to the first few episodes of Season 2, and I'm having a hard time to track them down. The funny thing? This fic is more popular in the US, than it is in the show's native country.**

**Reminders:**

**I'm formatting it as I go, into a PDF for those of you who might be interested in reading it on your Kindle. I'll only be releasing it at the end of each story I do to save on confusion. If, at the end, you want it a copy, leave an Email I can send it to in the bottom of a review with the phrase "PDF Please", and I'll put you on the mailing list.**

**Images of Nicole Fox/Aspen's lookalike:**

**(1)si0 dot twimg dot com/profile_images/2790743190/13a7879d749cd0705c7c9860d6fe bae2 dot jpeg**

**(2) www dot polyvore dot com/cgi/img-thing? dot out=jpg&size=l&tid=33464014**

**(3) 25 dot media dot tumblr dot com/tumblr_lavsxoHq2J1qb9gywo1_500 dot jpg**

**Aspen's Pendant:**** lunarieen dot deviantart dot com/art/LUNARTION-341618122**


	4. Chapter 4: The Very Hungry Centipede

**Arguing with Time**

**Sophia Conrad**

**1.2: The Very Hungry Centipede**

* * *

_"Does anyone have a really big slipper?"_

―_Abby Maitland_

* * *

Abby and Stephen climbed out of the deserted tube station, and headed over to where Claudia was trying to raise Cutter on the radio.

"Cutter? Come in. All I'm getting is interference." She said into the radio, before turning to Abby and Stephen and motioned for them to join her.

"Look." She told them, as she pointed to a section of a map.

"There's no other way out. This tunnel was blocked 30 years ago." She informed them.

"What? Then why isn't he back here?" Abby said, clearly worried. Stephen shook his head.

"Look, he's got to be trapped, okay? I'm going back in." He told them.

"No-one goes anywhere until we know what we're dealing with." Claudia told him.

"He could be injured." Stephen tried to argue.

"I don't want to leave him down there anymore than you do, but I'm not losing anyone else in this wild goose chase. We don't even know for sure where he is. Did you see what kind of creature it was?" Claudia was standing firm.

"It was some kind of centipede." He told her.

"But huge!" Abby insisted.

"Anything else? Like preferred habitat, behavioral patterns, strengths, weaknesses?" She pressed.

"We don't know. No one does!" Abby said, frustrated.

"Connor might. He's like a walking encyclopedia of this stuff. He probably has giant bug fridge magnets." Stephen's tone was somewhere between impressed and weirded out. Claudia sucked in a deep breath.

"Okay, I'll get him here." She told them, before handing Stephen the map and walking towards Captain Ryan.

"Ryan, we need to get Connor…" Her voice trailed off as she moved away. Stephen turned back to Abby.

"I can't leave him in there." He told her.

"You can't go down there without back up." She said.

"Watch me." Stephen's mind was made up. He turned and raced back down the stairs and into the station.

"Stephen." She called after him. But it was too late, he was already gone.

"Cutter?" Stephen called. He went through the boxes on the platform searching for a weapon, eventually pulling out a flame-thrower and grinned. Slinging the strap over his shoulder, he went into the tunnels, and down into the storeroom, using the flame-thrower to scare the giant spiders.

"Cutter!" He called. He went through the fence and saw the door at the back of the room that Cutter had escaped through. As he approached the door, the Arthropleurid came up behind him; He spun around just in time, and used the flame-thrower to make the Arthropleurid retreat.

"Cutter!" Stephen shouted. He walked around the room, but as he went past the anomaly, the magnetic force sucked the flame-thrower through, leaving Stephen defenseless. The Arthropleurid advanced again.

"Oh god." Stephen said. He ran toward the exit, but was cut off by the Arthropleurid, which prepared itself to strike, intending to strike a fatal blow. Out of nowhere, Connor and Aspen appeared.

"Hey! Hey you! Big and ugly! Over here!" Connor shouted, waving his arms at it. The giant bug paused mid-strike, and turned toward him.

"Ah… Maybe that was a bad idea." Connor muttered to himself as he backed up. The centipede launched itself at him, but was brought down by a bolt of electricity from Aspen's gun. Both Connor and Stephen turned to see her staring at it in disgust. Aspen wrinkled her nose.

"I _really _don't like those things." She said, looking at the arthopleurid. Connor and Stephen both laughed nervously, and they all headed for the exit, sealing the door behind them.

Up on the surface, Abby was trying to raise Stephen on her radio. She was so intent on her task, that she didn't notice Claudia and Ryan walk up behind her.

"Stephen. Where are you? Stephen?" She said into her radio.

"What's he done?" Claudia said. Abby jumped, and turned to see them. She looked at them apologetically, as Claudia took the radio from her.

"Stephen, where the hell are you?" Claudia barked into the radio.

"He was trying to help." Abby protested, as Cutter popped out of the tunnel.

"Who was trying to help?" He asked as they stared at him.

"Stephen's gone down there, looking for you." She told him, clearly exasperated.

"Well, he's done a really great job, hasn't he? Stephen, come in. Stephen? That's the problem with heroic gestures. Succeed and you look wonderful. Fail, and all you do is leave everybody else with a bloody mess to clear up. Well done." She snapped at Abby.

"Get down there." She told Ryan, "Where the hell is Connor?" She muttered.

"Stephen's down there?" Cutter asked, as Ryan went and got his men ready to go back down into the tunnels, just in time for Connor, Aspen and Stephen to come out**_._**

"Connor?" said Abby, staring at the entrance. Everybody else spun to see the threesome.

"What?" said Cutter, clearly astonished at Aspen and Connor being there.

Soon, the laptop was opened once more, and Connor's database was in use, searching for lists of possible creatures. Abby and Claudia crowded close, Cutter looking over their shoulders.

"Okay, Carboniferous. So it's probably an Arthropleurid. That's a centipede on steroids, basically. It's more or less blind, good sense of smell and touch. This thing's pretty big and scary looking, but it's more or less timid. It's the kind of bug that'd stick to the kitchen at parties." He informed them, sounding slightly confused. It hadn't been very friendly when he'd said hello.

"This one must have a personality disorder. How dangerous is it?" Claudia said looking at the screen.

"According to this, it would have eaten dead wood and leaves." He told the, reading from the list that was in the file.

"It tried to eat me!" Stephen protested.

"So it's not poisonous?" Claudia persisted, ignoring Stephen.

"No way." Connor sounded certain.

"That's a good thing then." Claudia sighed in relief, but Aspen disagreed.

"No. It's poisonous. Why do you think I shot first and asked questions later" Aspen's face was set like stone.

"How do you know?" Claudia clearly didn't believe her. Aspen grimaced.

"Because Spiders only eat what they can catch in their webs. Centipedes aren't so choosy." She told them. Cutter looked doubtful, but Stephen pulled them away and said:

"She was right about the Gorgonopsid; maybe she's right about this too." Cutter and Claudia looked at him sharply.

"What?" They said in tandem. Stephen sighed.

"When we were looking at that truck, Aspen said that it was done by a Gorgonopsid. But that was before we had even come close to seeing it. She also predicted what the anomaly would look like. I say we trust her." He told them. All three turned to look at Aspen who was staring intently at the computer screen, as if she was contemplating something.

* * *

Ryan and his men had gone back down to the storeroom to find the centipede on Cutter's orders.

"It's working. They're going back through." Ryan's voice came through over the radio. There was a burst of static, and then: "First line's clear. Moving into second bunker."

"Have you seen the centipede yet?" Cutter asked him.

"No" came the short reply. Cutter turned to look at Stephen, who said:

"It should be there, we locked it in." Cutter turned back to the radio.

"On no account let it return through the anomaly. Repeat, do not let it go back." He told Ryan, and then turned to Connor.

"Find me something that will do the job." Cutter told him.

"What are you going to do?" Claudia asked him.

"I'm going to invite a very angry centipede to bite me." Cutter told her as he took off his jacket.

"Why?" Claudia was confused.

"That worker died because there was no anti-venom available. If that thing escapes, or a second anomaly opens up, then I want a sample to make sure we're prepared next time." Cutter's tone was firm, and his face set. Mr. Centipede was going to be making a donation, whether he liked it, or not.

The team followed Claudia down to the storeroom, to where Ryan and the other soldiers were keeping watch. They ducked through the fence, one by one.

"Bunker's clear. And it hasn't been through the anomaly on my watch. There's nowhere else for it to go. Either it's already gone through, or it's behind that door." Ryan told them.

"We go in there." Cutter told them leading them through the door into the tunnels beyond.

"Keep your eyes open, this thing's fast." They went through the tunnels, cautiously checking each dead end.

"Clear." Came Ryan's voice.

"It's gone back. We must have lost it. Damn it." Cutter cursed, and they went back to the storeroom. Cutter stood in front of the anomaly with Claudia, and sighed. Suddenly, Connor rushed into the room.

"Professor! I'd forgotten. The Arthropleurid, they were supposed to be burrowers, so look for a hole, in the floor, in the walls, anywhere." He told them, and then scampered back through the fence, where he and the soldiers started looking for a hole. Connor found it hidden behind a pile of junk and did a little victory dance.

"Cutter! I found it!" He called, and Cutter rushed into the room.

"I was right, it is still here." Connor was practically dancing with anticipation.

"Good work." Claudia told them.

"How deep could this be?" Cutter asked quickly. Connor thought about it.

"A creature that size? 50 feet, maybe." He rattled off a quick estimate.

"All right, fine, I'm going in." Cutter told them.

"That's crazy." Claudia said, eyes wide.

"Chill. I've got my gun. That bug's already met the end of it once, and we came off better." Aspen reassured her.

"There's no other way of finding out where it's gone." Cutter said.

"I'm going to come too." Connor chipped in, he wasn't about to let Aspen near that thing on her own.

"Me too." Stephen said, as Cutter darted around the room, picking up bottles of turpentine. Connor turned to Abby.

"Cool, okay, um… Look, if I don't come back, you can have my Star Trek Next Generation top trumps." He told her solemnly.

"I'll treasure them." She told him. At the sound of her tone, Connor reconsidered.

"You know what, on second thoughts, maybe you should bury them with me." He patted her shoulders, and moved to follow Cutter.

"Here, put this on your clothes. It's turpentine. Bugs hate it. All right?" Cutter told them, passing the bottles around. Connor glanced back once before he entered, and after he went; Claudia crouched by the tunnel entrance. Nick, Stephen and Ryan had torches, Aspen had the light on her gun, but Connor had nothing. The tunnel was just wide enough for them to crawl through and there are loads of roots coming out of its sides.

"I won't have a panic attack. I will not have a panic attack." Connor chanted to himself.

"Connor, if you throw up, I will shoot you." Aspen told him tersely, not liking the tiny space much either. The other end of the tunnel came out into an area that looked rather like an underground building site. The walls were concrete and there was a structure made of large steel girders that towered several floors up.

"Could it really have climbed up there?" Connor asked, amazed.

"Let's find out." Cutter said, and stopped Ryan from going up the stairs.

"Just got to give it a chance to get to me first." Cutter told him.

"Claustrophobia and vertigo on the same day. This is, um, fabulous." Connor's sarcasm was ignored.

"Whatever happens, don't shoot until we've got the venom." Cutter insisted. They reached the top floor, and found there was a fence around the platform at the top, keeping people out. There was a hole in it, which they went through. The area was electrified, and said so via a large 'Danger of Death' sign that sat on the twisted ruins of the fence. The Arthropleurid sat upon one of the girders above them. They didn't notice until Connor accidentally knocked over a stool and they turned around. It came down the girders toward them and Aspen lifted her gun. The large bug must have recognized it, because, with a terrifying screech, it lashed out and sent Aspen flying into the wall, and she collapsed against the metal floor. Her gun clattered to the ground, and Nick stepped forward.

"Come on." Cutter muttered, baiting the centipede. The Arthropleurid lunged at Nick, who raised his arm, and it sank it's pincers into him. The Arthropleurid released Nick and he stumbled back. Ryan shot at the creature but it had no apparent effect other than from making it angry. The Arthropleurid lunged at Ryan and knocked him back, but didn't bite, so Connor grabbed the stool that he knocked over earlier, and lunged at the Arthropleurid with it.

"Careful, Connor." Cutter warned. The Arthropleurid grabbed hold of the stool and pulled it out of Connor's grasp. The stool was jammed in the Arthropleurid's mouth, and it started thrashing in an attempt to remove it, accidentally slamming the stool into one of the electrified areas, and was electrocuted, it fell lifelessly to the ground. Stephen, Cutter and Ryan both took a couple of deep breaths, before they all started to laugh in relief. Connor looked shocked that it was him that actually saved the day. Cutter pulled back his sleeve, revealing the plastic bag full of Arthropleurid venom.

"Lets get this back to the lab. Is she alright?" Cutter motioned to where Aspen lay on the floor. She groaned and tried to sit up.

"Why is everything spinny?" Connor was at her side in seconds.

"Uh – It threw you into the wall. I don't think it liked your gun very much." He told her with a nervous laugh.

"Connor?" She said, eyes half closed.

"Yeah?" He answered.

"Don't let the squirrel's get my bacon." She mumbled sleepily. He blinked.

"Sure." He said, and turned back to the others.

"She's got a concussion." He told them

"How can you tell?" Ryan said.

"She thinks that the squirrels want her bacon." Connor deadpanned.

It had been Stephen who had carried her out of the tunnels in the end, replying to her whispered conversation as they went.

"You know, you smell really nice." She mumbled to him.

"No. I didn't" he said bemused.

"You smell like waffles. I like waffles." She said quietly, clearly not aware of what she was saying.

"Connor?" he said over his shoulder.

"Yeah?" Connor looked up at him, from Aspen's gun that he'd been studying intently.

"Is this normal behavior for her?" He asked, clearly referring to her actions, as she was now rambling about whether strawberries went better with pancakes, or waffles.

"Uh. Yeah. Pretty much. You're quite lucky though. One time she spent an entire afternoon speaking in French." He told Stephen.

"Right." Stephen muttered.

"I'm sorry," She said really quietly, so quietly that Stephen could barely hear her.

"For what?" he asked, confused.

"For lying," she said. "I'm always lying. I can't help it, because it's the only way." She muttered drowsily.

"The only way for what?" He asked, confused.

"To save everybody." She whispered, as the medics took her from his arms, leaving him thoroughly confused.

* * *

Cutter was sat in front of the anomaly, looking contemplative, when Connor climbed through the hole in the fence.

"Hi. Hey, um… Does this mean I'm back in?" his voice was uncertain.

"Any way we can keep you out?" Cutter asked wearily.

"I just want to help." He said quietly.

"You did a good job." Cutter said, and then reluctantly added. "Also, I think Aspen might throw me through that thing if I say no." he nodded at the anomaly.

"Oh my god. You know what? All my life I've wanted to be in a crime-busting gang. And now I am. Sort of. I don't suppose you would consider giving me a cool nickname, would you?" He looked hopeful.

"No." Cutter said. Connor's face fell slightly.

"Oh well. I thought not. Anyway, I just came down to tell you that the medics said Aspen will be fine. I'm going to go pick her up." Connor said as he stood up.

"Give her my best then" Cutter said, still staring at the anomaly. He stood up and walked towards it, holding out a hand to it.

"Where are you Helen? What do you want?"

* * *

"So you don't remember anything?" Stephen was saying to Aspen, when Connor walked into the hospital room.

"Nope. Not a thing." She shook her head.

"Hey Conn." She smiled at Connor, who moved across to sit on the end of the bed she was sitting in.

"Ready to go?" He asked, only to be bowled over as she flung herself off the bed and at him.

"Yes! Get me out of here!" She was almost frantic to collect her things. In no time flat she was ready to go.

"You really don't like hospitals, do you?" Connor laughed at the horror on her face.

"No. Take me home?" She begged him, almost making Stephen laugh at her antics. Almost.

"Alright." Connor said and they walked out of the door. Stephen could only just hear their conversation before it faded.

"So I just have one question." Connor's voice drifted in.

"Hmm?" Aspen said.

"Who on earth gave you that gun?" Aspen's laughter echoed down the hallway.

Stephen sat there, her earlier words echoing in his mind.

_"I'm sorry,"_

_"For what?"_

_"For lying, I'm always lying. I can't help it, because it's the only way."_

_"The only way for what?"_

_"To save everybody."_

* * *

**14.12.2012**

**AN 1: This chapter is dedicated to CazzyLove, as she's out for the second day in a row thanks to whatever evil illness has attacked her.**

**Yes Caz, the nasty bug did get zapped. Here's hoping your better by Monday. :)**

**AN 2: So now you all know that Aspen has an EMD. Fishy, right? Also - I think it's clear that she gets a little nutty when she whacks her head. That happened to me Thursday morning actually. I was walking to catch the bus, and slipped on some serious black ice. I went down and cracked y head on the ice so hard I thought I was going to have a concussion. Luckily, it just cause a really bad headache. Ow...**

**Reminders:**

**(1) I'm formatting it as I go, into a PDF for those of you who might be interested in reading it on your Kindle. I'll only be releasing it at the end of each story I do to save on confusion. If, at the end, you want it a copy, leave an Email I can send it to in the bottom of a review with the phrase "PDF Please", and I'll put you on the mailing list.**

**(2) Does anybody have copies of, or can tell me where to find the Primeval scripts for Season 2 onwards. I only have up to the first few episodes of Season 2, and I'm having a hard time to track them down.**

**Much thanks,**

**Sophia.**


	5. Chapter 5: It Came From Jonas Lake

**Arguing with Time**

**Sophia Conrad**

**1.3: It Came From Jonas Lake**

* * *

_"I actually thought you were gay… Don't worry though! You're not my type anyway."_

―_Aspen Wilder_

* * *

All was quiet in the swimming center, save the sounds of splashing from the pool where two of the lifeguards, Anthony and Dianne, were taking advantage of the after hour calm. Anthony dove of the spring board skillfully, and landed smoothly in the pool below. Dianne swam over to him, kissed him, and climbed out of the pool to return to the changing rooms and get dressed. Anthony also climbed out of the pool, and made his way to the dive board again, but this time his dive was interrupted. As his feet left the board, a Mosasaur leapt up from the pool and swallowed him whole. His screams echoed around the pool, and concerned, Dianne walked out of the changing rooms.

"Anthony?" There was no answer. On her way back to the changing rooms, she passed an underwater window, and the Mosasaur, seeing her rammed it, cracking the glass in the process. She Screamed.

* * *

Aspen stood in a conference room with Claudia, Lester and Cutter in front of a set of official looking men and women, who were watching Connor on the video screen, as he reported in on the status of the anomaly that was still active down in the tunnels. Thankfully, there had been no more centipedes.

"The magnetic field is remaining consistent at five tesla. At this point there is no sign of deterioration. Let me demonstrate." Connors voice came over the video connection, as he held up a metal flask to demonstrate.

"Who's that idiot?" Lester asked grumpily.

"Connor Temple. He looks like a half-wit, but he has a very good brain." Cutter told him, flinching as Aspen glared at him.

"Oi! That's my brother. Call him an idiot again, and so help me, I'll shove this chair so far up-" Claudia cleared her throat, and Aspen stopped midsentence, huffing as she turned and walked over to the window. On the screen, Connor let go of the flask laughing as it was sucked into the anomaly.

"Whoa! Bulls-eye! That kills me every time." He laughed, causing Lester to sigh miserably.

"We may stand on the brink of Armageddon, but at least we have an irritating student on our side. How reassuring." He told Cutter in a sardonic voice. Aspen gave him a sharp glare over her shoulder.

"Is this thing still on?" Connor's voice came over the connection, and then the video link was switched off.

"The previous anomaly proved to be temporary. As you've just heard, this one shows no sign of weakening." Lester told the group of officials.

"The anomalies may be intermittent, and they fade from time to time, but they never completely disappear." Cutter informed the room.

"Well, if that were true, creatures would have come through before." Lester asked.

"Maybe they have. Ancient civilizations have spoken of monsters and dragons. Perhaps they weren't as naïve as we assumed." Aspen said quietly form where she stood by the window.

"The anomalies are conclusive proof that the past exists in a fourth dimension as real and solid as those we already know. Our job is to predict and contain them. We need to establish what…" Cutter was cut off; pardon the pun, as Lester spoke up.

"Thank you, Professor. We'll take his from here. The Professor is speaking in an independent capacity. Official policy is yet to be finalized." Lester said in a weary voice, as a man walked to hand him a note.

"It appears we may have another one." He told the, reading the note.

* * *

Claudia and Cutter walked with the lead Inspector along the side of the pool, discussing the incident. "Pretty obvious she killed her boyfriend, but we don't know what she did with the body. Just keeps babbling on about monsters and sea serpents." The Inspector told them skeptically.

"Would you let me talk to her?" Cutter asked him.

"What about? Monsters? I'm conducting a serious murder investigation here…" The Inspector told them haughtily.

"There was no murder. Anthony Barton was killed by an ancient marine predator, which then returned to its home, millions of years in the past." Cutter snapped at him and walked away. The Inspector turned to Claudia as he left.

"Who are you people?" He said dumbfounded. Claudia winced.

"I'm sorry. Thanks for your time Inspector. Cutter, wait." She told him, before going after Cutter.

"The girl's innocent." Cutter growled.

"I know." She told him softly.

"We can't let her go to jail for something she didn't do." Cutter complained, and Claudia frowned, thinking hard.

"Leave that with me, I'll do what I can for her." She told him, and then left.

On the other side of the room, Abby knelt by the pool, collecting water samples while Connor and Aspen sat next to her. Connor had his bare feet in the water, wiggling his toes happily. Stephen stood waist deep in the water next to them wearing the bottom half of a wetsuit, preparing to investigate the supposed anomaly site.

"With all this chlorine in the pool, I'm surprised the creature came through. To a reptile it would have been like swimming in a bucket of acid." Connor said thoughtfully.

"Yeah. It probably sensed the danger and got out fast before the anomaly closed." Stephen muttered as Abby got up and walked off carrying the sample case. Aspen handed Stephen his flippers and he sat down to put them on, cleaned the lens of his mask, and put that on too.

"So, how's Allison." Connor asked, clearly digging for gossip. Allison was Stephen's apparent girlfriend; a few days ago, Abby had asked him on a date that he declined, stating that he had to go pick his girlfriend up from the airport that night. It made for an awkward moment; one Connor was still smiling about.

"Jet-lagged." Stephen said.

"You see, it's funny, because you always give the impression like you were single." Connor chuckled.

"That's funny; I didn't think I was giving any impression whatsoever." Stephen didn't sound amused.

"You'd be surprised." Connor told him, still smiling.

"I actually thought you were gay… Don't worry though! You're not my type anyway." Aspen teased from where she was sitting. Miffed, Stephen dove into the pool in a huff.

"I don't think he liked that very much, Penn." Connor told her quietly.

* * *

At a reservoir, about 20 miles away from the swimming pool, people milled around the small harbor near the waterfront, while others were sailing and canoeing on the water. Unknown to the visitors; in the dark, murky water below the surface, a prehistoric monster was lurking. The very same mosasaur that had eaten Anthony earlier had just entered through a second anomaly. It belched, and a large lump of meat floated to the surface, directly in front of a set of canoeists. There was a scream, and the civilians descended into panic.

* * *

"Well, the DNA is conclusive. It's the boy from the swimming pool. Or what's left of him." Claudia told them, handing the photos' over to Lester.

"It's a bolus. A regurgitated mass of flesh and bone. The beast swallowed him whole and then vomited up what it couldn't digest." Cutter informed them as he looked at the pictures.

"And what kind of creature could have done this to him?" Lester wanted to know.

"What you should be asking yourself, is how the remains of a boy who was attacked in a swimming pool, end up 20 miles away in a reservoir." Cutter told him, a frown on his face.

"Maybe there never was an anomaly. Maybe the girl murdered her boyfriend in the swimming pool and dumped his body in the reservoir." Lester mused.

"It's very likely, provided you also believe she swallowed him whole and then drove 20 miles down the motorway to regurgitate his remains." Cutter told him wryly, causing Claudia to hide a smirk.

"All right, then you explain it." Lester said grumpily. Cutter thought about it for a minute.

"We know it was the same beast in the pool and the reservoir. Perhaps the anomaly has a fixed point of origin in the past, yet somehow it remains fluid in our time. They don't just open, they move." Cutter said, coming to a conclusion he prayed was wrong.

* * *

"We haven't found anything yet. No creature, no anomaly, no nothing. We're still searching the reservoir, but with any luck the anomaly's closed again." Claudia told Cutter as he climbed onto the dock next to her.

"I need detailed local maps, lists of swimming pools, rivers, lakes, anything nearby. Can you get those for me?" Cutter said, looking out over the water.

"Should I be asking why?" Claudia was puzzled.

"It's just an idea." He said.

"Do you know what I miss? Those soul-crushingly dull civil service meetings, which made suicide look like an exciting career option. I used to sit there praying something would happen in my life." She told him, irritated. Cutter snorted.

"Careful what you wish for." He said. There was a shout form further down the pier.

"Professor! Professor!" It was Connor; he was waving at Cutter, gesturing for him to head over. Cutter ran around to the other side of the pier to join him. Connor was poking a stick around in the water, the stick had a piece of red tape around it part way up. The water didn't reach it.

"You're really going to want to see this. The reservoir's land locked, right?" Connor said.

"Yes." Cutter couldn't quite see where he was going with this.

"So, allowing for condensation and rainfall, the depth should be pretty consistent." Connor persisted.

"Yes." Cutter said, waiting for him to get to the point.

"Well, I made this mark at water level earlier." Connor told him, and showed him the tape on the stick, and putting the stick back into the water.

"The water level's fallen 40 centimeters since then." Connor told him, as Stephen ran up to the, Aspen practically glued to his side.

"This isn't a reservoir any more, it's a tidal lake. The water's literally pouring out of it." He told them, almost gleefully.

"It must be flowing out through the anomaly." Cutter said, and they all turned and stare out across the reservoir.

"Which means it's still down there somewhere." Cutter muttered, as he watched the surface closely. Hours passed, and there was no noticeable change.

"Here you are." Claudia said, handing Cutter a cup of coffee.

"Thanks very much." Cutter said quietly.

"Thinking about Helen?" She asked him. He looked up at her.

"How did you know that?" Cutter said, surprised.

"Highly trained civil servant. We're famous for our emotional empathy." Claudia told him with a flippant smile. He laughed sadly.

"It's just, all this stuff about anomalies. I spent 8 years wondering what happened to her, and now I know." Cutter said, starring out across the water. He frowned, looking out at the slight haze about the surface of the water. It seemed to hover in one particular spot.

"Steam. Don't you see? The tide must be coming in, bringing in warmer water from the other side. The steam is telling us exactly where the anomaly is." Cutter said slowly. In no time flat there was a team assembled to check it out.

"I suppose there's no point in asking you not to go down with them." Claudia said to Cutter.

"You don't have to worry about me." He told her.

"I'm not. I'm just thinking about all the paperwork I'll have to do if you drown. No idea how many forms I'll have to fill in. What if you're right and the creature is still down there?" She told him.

"We'll find it. All right?" He told her firmly, and stepped into the boat with Stephen, unhooking the rope, and heading out to where the steam was rising off the water. Connor and Abby watched Cutter and Stephen leave, and then walked along a small beach by the pier; Abby was carrying a sample case.

"Why does Stephen get all the fun stuff to do whilst we get stuck collecting water samples?" Connor asked as he followed Abby along the waterfront.

"Its cause he looks better in a wetsuit." Aspen teased him, winking as she went past them in the opposite direction to stand by Claudia and Ryan.

"I could do the action stuff too as well, you know. I'm not just a massive intellect." Connor told Abby as they carried on, Abby stayed silent.

"You know he wasn't trying to be mean." Connor told her, in an attempt to ease her irritation.

"That's not the point. He knew what he was doing when started flirting with me. He knew he had a girlfriend." Abby said huffily.

"What am I saying? You know, you're right. He's a two-timing weasel, and maybe you should put that down to experience and move on. You know, there's plenty more fish in the sea." Connor told her, clearly implying that he thought she should give him a chance.

They changed into the dry suits, camouflage style, which were clearly donated by the SAF men, and entered the water to gather samples. They were in up to their waists and started scooping water into test tubes, before anything, something spooked a pair of swans nearby and they took off in a watched them suspiciously, and then paled when he saw something else.

"Abby? Um, what's that?" Connor asked nervously, as he pointed to the dark shadow that was the mosasaur under the surface of the water nearby. It was moving rapidly toward them, before they could move; it started to circle Abby in large, lazy circles, before disappearing into deeper water.

"Don't move!" Abby told him, looking around to see if the mosasaur was still there.

"Go!" Connor shouted, and they made a break for it. They were quick, but the aquatic dinosaur was faster, and immediately resumed stalking them_._

"Quickly Abby!" Connor shouted, and they managed to reach the edge of the reservoir and scramble up on to the bank.

"You okay?" Connor asked her. The mosasaur leapt out of the water and tried to reach them, but thankfully, it couldn't climb up the bank. They moved from side to side, in an attempt to stay out of its reach, and were pressed up against the fence. Connor pushed Abby out of the way.

"Move now! No back!" He darted forward and grabbed an oar from one of the canoes left on the bank. He lunged forward with it, in an attempt to hit the mosasaur with it.

"Connor, be careful!" Aspen shouted from the dock. Connor hit the mosasaur over the nose a couple of times before the oar broke and somehow managed to get lodged in the roof of the its mouth. It shook the oar loose and turned away, diving back into the water, leaving the pair shaken. In minutes, they were rescued by the group of SAF soldiers that Aspen had called over. Deep underwater, the mosasaur swam back toward Cutter who was near the anomaly, shaking its head in pain and roared, leaving a slight trail of blood behind as it went. It went past Cutter, either not noticing him, or not caring, and entered the anomaly, which closed after it.

* * *

"Some kind of mosasaur, maybe six or seven meters. Cretaceous, at a guess." Connor was telling Cutter, while one of Ryan's medics looked after Abby.

"Scary. And at that size, it couldn't have been fully-grown." Cutter said, staring at the water. In the background they could hear the medic telling Abby to take deep breaths.

"Yeah." Connor said flatly, suppressing a shiver.

"Which is just as well for you." Cutter told him, patting him on the shoulder before turning to Claudia. They looked over to where a group of Ryan's men were standing a short distance away with Ryan and Stephen.

"They're all really upset about losing the diver. Tell me exactly what happened." She said to Cutter, as they walked towards the group, leaving Abby and Connor behind.

"He swam through right in front of me. He should have been able to make it back through." Cutter told her.

"Something must have stopped him. Are you absolutely certain the anomaly's closed?" She said.

"Straight after the mosasaur went back through. The water temperature's already returned to normal." Cutter sounded disappointed. Claudia sighed.

"Then we've lost him." She sounded reluctant to admit it.

"Yeah." Their voices faded as they got further away. _Abby approached Connor and reached for his hand._

"You saved my life." She said quietly.

"I did, didn't I?" Connor said, looking rather chuffed with himself. Abby pulled him into a thank-you hug.

"Okay." She said after a moment.

"What?" Connor asked.

"You can let go now." Abby told him, sounding slightly uncomfortable. Connor let go as though he'd been burned.

"Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. I just…" He said, stumbling over his words.

"Thanks." Abby said.

"Just one question." Aspen spoke up suddenly from where she was standing, staring at the spot where the mosasaur had attacked Connor and Abby. Everybody turned to look at her.

"Why didn't we just fry the bloody thing? We could have easily cleared the area, and pumped some electricity into the water. It would have zapped anything down there, and then we would have known if anybody was in danger." Aspen said angrily.

"You're a very violent young woman, you know." Cutter told her.

"It tried to eat my best friend! What exactly am I supposed to do? Invite it to dinner?" She snapped. Cutter wisely stayed quiet.

* * *

Back at the home office, Cutter was looking over a map with Lester and Claudia.

"The anomalies are times equivalent of an earthquake. Strong enough to rip apart the boundaries between dimensions. My guess is that the fault line ruptured at the swimming pool, then ran to the reservoir. It could crash its way through into our time again anywhere along this line." Cutter told them; pointing to the line he'd drawn on the map.

"Earthquakes? Temporal fault lines? Are we trying a little too hard people? It's random chance, that's all. There's no connection with any of it. Try to look on the bright side, Cutter. The anomaly's gone, the crisis is over and I'd say we got off pretty lightly." Lester was skeptical.

"Except that a good man in now permanently marooned in the past." Claudia snapped irritably.

"There could be another breach along the fault line at any given moment. You should be stationing troops at every significant body of water between the reservoir and the coast." Cutter told them.

"The press would be crawling all over us in seconds. How on Earth would we explain it? I mean, you admit that it's all conjecture?" Lester told him.

"Yes, of course it is, but I'm right." Cutter was sure of it.

"You people, you're worse than the climate change mob. One cold day in July and suddenly it's the new Ice Age." Lester said, as if he was complaining about a tribe of hippies.

"You're making a mistake. If and when the anomaly breaks through again, I guarantee you it will be somewhere along this line." Cutter warned him.

* * *

In a pretty suburban house, two children wearing uniforms ran into their backyard to play, their mother following them.

"Okay, guys. Ten minutes before school." Their Mother told them, before taking a basket of laundry down into the basement, picking up dirty clothes along the way. She loaded the washing into a washing machine and switched it on, not noticing the steady stream of water that was beginning to cover the floor. She climbed the steps and went to pick up the school bags that lay next to the back door, and turned around, finally noticing the wet footprints she left behind. Looking down into the cellar, she saw the floor covered in water, a plug sparked and she ran back upstairs. After she was gone there were several splashes, and an oddly shaped bird stuck its head above the water line.

* * *

Connor and Aspen sat in the cafeteria at CMU running through the database on Connor's laptop. There were attempting to find out if the Mosasaur had any weakness's to exploit, and list the possibilities of other creatures coming through.

"Mosasaur, eh? Cretaceous era marine predator. Anything from 2 to 20 meters in length and two tonnes in weight. Extinct 65 million years ago." Tom said, leaning over Connor's shoulder, causing both of them to jump. Connor shut his laptop quickly, while Aspen stood up and grabbed their backpacks.

"I was reading that. What's this? New project?" Tom persisted.

"No. No. No, no, no, just interested. Oh, is that the time? I'm going to have to go." Connor said, flustered as he took his bag from Aspen.

"Whoa, what's the rush? It's DVD night. 'Battlefield Earth', director's commentaries. Your turn to get the pizza." Tom told him, holding a hand out to stop them from leaving.

"Right. You know what? You can have it on me. I've really got to be somewhere." He handed Duncan a twenty pound note and walked out with Aspen, Tom sat down in the seat Connor had just left, and Duncan sat down next to him in Aspen's vacated chair.

"What's got into him?" Tom asked.

"Maybe he's still angry over our practical joke." Duncan said uncertainly.

"Come on. That fake dinosaur was a masterpiece." Tom said, disbelieving.

"Yeah. Maybe she's his girlfriend. They were looking pretty cozy." Duncan said. They looked at each other and laughed.

"Nah." Duncan said, shaking his head.

"Well, it must be pretty radical. He missed my Gerry Anderson marathon last weekend as well. Said he wasn't interested." Tom said, thinking back on Connor's behavior.

"How weird is that?" Duncan said.

"But why the sudden obsession with dinosaurs?" Tom mused.

"Maybe he's onto something. A dig somewhere, a good fossil, something he wants to keep to himself." Duncan said.

"Which would be selfish. You know, I think we need to keep a closer eye on that boy." Tom said as they looked at where Connor and Aspen had disappeared down the hallway.

* * *

**14.12.2012**

**AN: I'm well aware that Aspen constantly switches back and forth between calling Connor her brother, and her best friend. I have this kind of relationship with a few girls who I'm very close to. We're sisters in all but blood, and so Connor and Aspen share the same bond. They're just very close, and even though she's younger, Aspen often holds the role of older sibling.**

**This chapter is being uploaded early, as a special get well gift to Cazzy - I figure she needs something to do, so I'll work on tomorrows chapter tonight. For those of you who have been a Teen Titan's fan in your childhood, you may recognized the title which I borrowed from there as if referred to a large, terrifying monster that lived in a lake.**

**Also - I'm in need of a Beta, as I can't expect my friends to keep checking my work for me. I struggle particularly with tenses for this fic, as I'm working with a script written in a different point of view. So if anybody feels up for it, let me know.**

**Reminders:**

**(1) I'm formatting it as I go, into a PDF for those of you who might be interested in reading it on your Kindle. I'll only be releasing it at the end of each story I do to save on confusion. If, at the end, you want it a copy, leave an Email I can send it to in the bottom of a review with the phrase "PDF Please", and I'll put you on the mailing list.**

**(2) Does anybody have copies of, or can tell me where to find the Primeval scripts for Season 2 onwards. I only have up to the first few episodes of Season 2, and I'm having a hard time to track them down. Seriously though – I'm starting to panic.**

**Sophia.**


	6. Chapter 6: Birds With Teeth

**Arguing with Time**

**Sophia Conrad**

**1.3: Birds with Teeth**

* * *

_"__I'm human. I want company. I want to share this... incredible gift, but only with you. Nick, I have seen such wonders. Things you wouldn't believe...__"_

―_Helen Cutter_

* * *

"I thought you said you got a leak in the washing machine, love. Not an indoor pool." The plumber said, uncertainly.

"Can you stop it?" The home-owner asked.

"We'll see." The plumber told her as he waded into the water, which went up to his waist. She waited on the stairs, while he checked behind the washing machine.

"Well your connections are fine. It must be a mains leak." He told her. There was a splashing sound behind him, he turned around and shone his torch into the dark area of the cellar.

"Well, your dog's enjoying a swim anyway." He laughed.

"We haven't got a dog." She told him, and walked back upstairs while he looked around. There was a Hesperonis perched on one of the lower counter-tops. It lunged at the plumber as he went past, and he stumbled back in an attempt to get away, and fell over. It followed him down into the water and kept attacking him.

"Help me!" He shouted_._

"Help me!" He cried out again, as he managed to get his feet underneath him, and struggled upright. He stumbled to the staircase as she came down.

"Are you all right?" She asked. He started up the stairs, but was dragged back down under by the Hesperonis. She screamed. Not long after, a second body floated to the surface of the water that was in the cellar. It was a SAF diver, the same one that went missing in the reservoir. There was a handkerchief tied around his wrist. The initials embroidered on the handkerchief read H.C; Helen Cutter.

* * *

In no time flat, the house was being commandeered by the SAF lead by Claudia who has just arrived in a jeep. Ryan went to greet her, and reported in.

"It's our diver. The man we lost in the reservoir." He told her.

"Looks like he died of shock. They found this tied around his wrist. We don't know how the hell it got there." He handed her the handkerchief, and she took note of the initials. Inside the house, Cutter and Stephen stood in the cellar watching some soldiers poke around. Claudia joined them on the stairs.

"What kept you?" Cutter said. She gave him a look. The kind of look that usually made grown men cower.

"What is it?" Cutter asked. Claudia handed him the handkerchief. Cutter sighed and leant against the windowsill before beginning to explain.

"Helen's mad old aunt used to give us those handkerchiefs, um… Same present every single birthday and Christmas, and we used to make jokes about them. That's a message. It means Helen's waiting for me on the other side of the anomaly." Cutter said thickly.

"You knew that she was alive? She might know things. Things that could help us. You have no right to decide what we should know and when we should know it." Claudia exclaimed, clearly pissed off.

"She's my wife." Cutter said.

"Maybe in your mind that gives you some kind of special privilege, but this affects all of us. If you can't see that, then you just can't be here anymore." She said, and threw the handkerchief to the floor and walked away.

Outside of the house, Abby had just arrived, and was helping Stephen unload boxes of gear from the back of the Jeep.

"What?" Abby said.

"Connor told me why you're mad at me." Stephen said.

"Well, we've got a job to do Stephen." Abby told him

"Can we at least talk about it?" Stephen said.

"Look, I over-reacted. I've already forgotten about it." She said dismissively.

"Abby, I'm sorry." Stephen told her.

"Look, there's no need to make a big thing out of it. I fancied you for a bit and now I don't. That's all." Abby said shortly, picking up one of the boxes and walking inside the house to join the rest of the group. Lester arrived not long after with a police escort. He wasn't happy.

"The revelation that Helen Cutter's still alive changes everything." Lester told them.

"She's still alive? Um, how did I miss that?" Connor said, clearly very confused.

"Long story." Claudia said, dismissively.

"So, eight years, she's been living in the past. My God. How are we going to explain Celebrity Love Island to her?" Connor said, trying to grasp the situation in his usual comedic fashion.

"Shut up Connor." Aspen hissed, elbowing him in the side.

"She's eight years ahead of us in terms of understanding the anomalies. Her knowledge could be priceless and we have to share it." Lester told them.

"Which is fine if she was here, but she isn't." Stephen said.

"Which is why we're going to go and find her. We know she wants to make contact. She must be brought back here, by force if necessary." Lester continued, in his bureaucratic way.

"This is my wife you're talking about." Cutter told him.

"Which is why I want you to go through the anomaly and bring her back. You will of course have a military escort." Lester said.

"To do what? Shoot her if she won't come back?" Cutter protested

"To protect you, both of you. The alternative is you sever all ties with the anomaly project with immediate effect, and we'll go and find her ourselves." Lester told him firmly.

"Okay, on one condition. I go on my own. There's no question of force. I'll do my best, but if she doesn't want to come back, then that's it." Cutter told him.

"How can we trust you?" Claudia asked, still angry that Cutter had kept Helen's existence a secret.

"Oh, I'm sure Professor Cutter won't let us down again. You will try and remember what side you're on, won't you?" Lester said, in a voice that booked no arguments as Cutter suited up for the dive. As Cutter made the final checks on all the equipment, he was joined by Stephen on the wooden platform in the cellar.

"Okay, so you've got about an hour of air, and a mile of rope. Take a compass reference as soon as you get there, and just stay attached. After two hours, we'll reel you back in. The water pressure in the anomaly is going to be intense, okay? So the harder you swim, the more air you're going to use." Stephen told him. He held up a harpoon gun.

"Now this has an effective range of about ten meters. If you have to use it against a predator, wait until you see the whites of its teeth."

"Good luck." Aspen told him, having just walked down the steps.

"Thanks" Cutter said, before submerging and swimming through the anomaly. Stephen began belaying out the rope as soon as Cutter was through. On the other side of the anomaly, Cutter was staring in wonder. A school of Hesperonis were swimming around, fishing, not unlike penguins. He surfaced, and looked around for a landmass, before swimming towards it. On the shore, he took of his flippers and mask and looked around. It was breathtaking. Leaving his scuba gear and rope on the beach, he picked up the harpoon and started up the natural path of the short cliff face.

"Helen!" He muttered quietly. There were Hesperonis perched all along the rocks around him, and they hissed at him as he passed. He was about halfway up the hill when there was a splash, and looking to his left, he saw Helen swimming in the small natural pool that lay below_._

"Hello Nick, I see you got my message." She called to him, from down in the natural pool. 20 minutes later, Cutter was down by the waterside, and Helen was getting dressed. Cutter had his back to her.

"You've lost weight. You haven't been eating properly." Helen remarked.

"You let me think you were dead." Cutter told her stonily.

"I am dead as the person you knew. My old life ended eight years ago. You know, you can turn around, I'm decent. There's no easy way to do this, is there?" Helen told him.

"Well, maybe we should just skip the small talk. Why didn't you come back?" Cutter said.

"What are you really upset about Nick? That I stayed away? Or that I didn't tell you what I was doing?" Helen snapped.

"I'm not upset Helen. I just don't know who you are any more." Cutter told her miserably.

"You want to know why I didn't come back? Because I knew your conscience would make you throw all this out there for everyone to trample over and I wasn't ready to share it then." She told him angrily, before turning and hurling a rock at a Hesperonis who got to close.

"Hey!"

"Hesperonis. Scary up close, but cumbersome and very stupid." She told him.

"What do you want Nick? An apology? What's the point?" She asked once the prehistoric bird had flapped off.

"Eight years of my life back would be nice." Cutter said acidly.

"Look, come on. People grieve and then they heal. It happens all the time. Why should you be any different?" Helen said, as if she were speaking to a neurotic child.

"Well, why come back at all then? Let me guess, you want something." Cutter replied.

* * *

Back at the house, in present-day time, Stephen left the cellar and joined Connor and Abby on the ground floor. Abby was holding a stopwatch and Connor was looking at a set of maps.

"Abby, how long has he been?" Stephen asked.

"91 minutes, 41 seconds." Abby told him, looking at the stopwatch.

"The drains." Connor muttered.

"Stephen? In theory, a creature could make its way along the sewage system all the way to the river, and once it's there, it could go anywhere." Connor said, louder this time.

"And?" Stephen said, waiting for the rest of it.

"Well, good news is the size of the drains rules out anything bigger than a small mosasaur." Connor said, sounding slightly cheerful.

"Well, how small." Abby pressed. Connor swallowed.

"Not small enough." He told them, as Claudia came into the adjacent room with a bunch of guys who were pulling on wetsuits.

"What's going on?" Stephen asked. Claudia didn't answer, but closed the door on them.

* * *

Helen handed Cutter the lid of a thermos flask and filled it with water for him.

"You've come back before? Did you watch me grieve? Did you come to the funeral?" Cutter asked her sadly, but there was anger giving him strength.

"No. Was it good?" Helen's reply was flippant.

"It was okay." Cutter told her, but the tone of his voice said otherwise.

"I'll answer all your questions, Nick. All you have to do is come with me. There are more anomalies than you can possibly imagine. I know how to find them." She told him, dangling the proverbial carrot.

"I asked you a question. Why do you want me now? After so long?" Cutter refused to be distracted.

"I'm human. I want company. I want to share this incredible gift, but only with you. Nick, I have seen such wonders. Things you wouldn't believe." Helen told him.

"You're asking me to abandon my life. Leave behind everything I know. You know, people are dying back home, and you want me to just run away with you?" Cutter wasn't buying it.

"Animals die, Nick. Species die. You know I'm right. One day, humanity will disappear, just like the dinosaurs, and nature doesn't care, something else will just take our place. Nick, just leave all the other stuff behind. Come with me." She told him coldly, pushing him.

"I've got a job to do; you could help me if you like." Cutter told her, standing his ground.

"You're rejecting me?" She actually sounded surprised.

"I'm asking you to come back with me." He told her.

"I offer you the key to time. The key to time, Nick. And you turn your back on it? Call yourself a scientist?" She said scathingly. Helen never had been able to handle being second best.

"I call myself a human being." He told her, and left, Helen watched him go. Back at the beach, Cutter donned his scuba equipment once more, and dove into the water. He was almost back at the anomaly when, out of nowhere, a mosasaur appeared. Cutter watched cautiously as it swam above him, before turning to see another mosasaur, this one smaller, heading toward him. He attempted to swim away, but it head butted him, and circled around him. Cutter fired the harpoon, but missed, only just managing to graze the large predator, succeeding only in making it angry. He continued on toward the anomaly, but the mosasaur came up from behind, and managed to slice through Cutter's air hose. He slid the now useless scuba gear off, leaving him with just the rope tied around his waist. The shadow of the larger mosasaur appeared behind the smaller one, and just as the small mosasaur was about to turn Cutter into a midday snack, it was attacked by the larger mosasaur, which killed it and swam away it's its prize.

* * *

Aspen sat on the bottom of the main stairs of the suburban house, watching Abby and Connor, who were in the back room. Connor was still poring over the maps, and Abby had started pacing. Abby sighed, and looked down at the stopwatch.

"His times up." Abby told them, and gestured for Aspen to pass the message on. Down in the cellar, Stephen, Ryan and another soldier sat waiting for Cutter to return. They looked up as Aspen came down the stairs.

"Abby says that it's been two hours. He'll be running out of air." She told them, and they started pulling on the cable as quickly as possible. Aspen knelt by the edge of the platform looking for Cutter. She was soon joined by Claudia.

"Come on, come on. He's lost his tank." Stephen said, panicking.

"Quick, get him out." Claudia shouted, and Stephen and Ryan leapt into the water to pull Cutter out. Cutter was unconscious.

"Cutter!" Stephen said loudly.

"Get his head up." Ryan commanded him.

"He's not breathing." Stephen said as they lifted Cutter out of the water and onto the platform at the bottom of the stairs and Claudia started to perform CPR.

"Medic! Get some air inside him." Ryan shouted for help as Cutter started coughing up water, beginning to come to. Stephen and Ryan supported him on either side and half-carried, half-walked him up the stairs. A stretcher was brought to the top of the stairs and they lay Cutter down onto it. They carried him outside and Abby and Connor followed.

"Was Helen with you?" Claudia asked, leaning over him.

"Yes." Cutter rasped, and Claudia's face hardened.

"So she was there." She muttered, before turning to Ryan.

"You know what to do." She told him. Ryan nodded, and went back down to the cellar followed by his team.

"What's this?" Stephen asked.

"Sorry, it's out of my hands." Claudia told him.

"What?" Stephen demanded. Claudia left the house, and Stephen stood by himself in the hallway.

Outside, Cutter had begun to come to in the ambulance, watched over by a nervous Abby and Connor. They both of them look worried and Connor kept glancing back to the house. He watched one of the soldiers at the front of the house receive and reply to a message on his radio.

"How long have I been out for?" Cutter asked.

"Not long." Abby told him.

"I have to talk to Claudia." Cutter protested, trying to standing up.

"Cutter, there's something you should know." Abby said, as Cutter climbed out of the ambulance and three soldiers rushed forward, to point their guns at him.

"Stand still. Don't move!" One of the soldiers barked.

"What's going on?" Cutter asked, confused.

"Stay still." The same soldier ordered, as Lester walked out of the house, quickly followed by Captain Ryan and two of his men. The two soldiers escorted a wet and angry Helen between them. Stephen ran out of the house behind them, staring in shock. As Helen and her escorts passed the ambulance that Cutter was standing in, Helen shot him an accusing glare, before being forced into a waiting car. Stephen had to be restrained by a soldier, and Aspen followed him out of the house, pulling him back by his shirt sleeve to whisper rapidly in his ear.

_"Don't. She's not safe, not right. You can't trust her. No matter what she says, you can't trust her."_

Cutter stood there in shock, as Connor and Abby shifted uncomfortably at the thought of the soldiers' guns still being pointed at them. Lester climbed into a separate car with Claudia, and they drove away with their police escort following them. Nobody knew quite what to say.

* * *

**17.12.2012**

**AN: Due to a freak accident with google, I actually found a better look-a-like for Aspen, Galadriel Steinman. Weirdly enough, the actress looks scarily like how I pictured Aspen to look, only with slightly shorter hair and brown eyes. To top it off, I think I'd seen her once before, and that was years ago.**

**Oh - AND the actress is only 22 years old. What are the odds?**

**For a look at what Aspen would look like if she were real see:**

**(1) www dot imdb dot com/media/rm712354048/nm3004687**

**(2) ia dot media-imdb dot com/images/M/MV5BMTkwNzc2NzEyM15BMl5BanBn XkFtZTcwNDg5NDg0OA ._V1._SX214_CR0,0,214,314_.jpg**

**(3) ia dot media-imdb dot com/images/M/MV5BMTYxNDc1MzYwMl5BMl5BanBn XkFtZTcwNTc5NDg0OA ._V1._SX640_SY960_.jpg**

**(4) img005 dot lazygirls dot info/people/galadriel_stineman/galadriel_stineman_ben_10_alien_swarm_premiere_ .jpg**


	7. Chapter 7: The Brains of a Dodo

**Arguing with Time**

**Sophia Conrad**

**1.4: The Brains of a Dodo**

* * *

_"__We'd better ship this lot back before we upset Darwin. Everybody, um... grab a __dodo__.__"_

―_Nick Cutter_

* * *

In the Maximum Security wing of the Home Office, two soldiers escorted Helen Cutter down a corridor, walked her into a room, and sat her down at a table. Lester and Claudia were waiting for her.

"Presumably there are still laws against kidnapping?" Helen said, and leant back in her chair.

"Hmm. Though, officially, you're dead. We can't have kidnapped someone who doesn't actually exist, can we? The only way you can get out of here is by telling us everything you know about the anomalies." Lester sounded rather proud of himself.

"I'll tell you one thing; you're the spitting image of a Utah-raptor I once met in the Jurassic." Helen told Lester. It wasn't a compliment. A man entered the chamber and handed Claudia a piece of paper, she read it and frowned.

"I'll take that as a refusal to co-operate, shall I?" He said flatly.

"We've got another one. In a block of flats in the city centre." Claudia told them, folding the note.

"Happy now?' Lester asked, because he clearly wasn't.

* * *

Captain Ryan and his men arrived at the flats in the back of a van. They jumped out and ran into the building. The kids who were playing football stood and watched them, their hands raised in the 'surrender' pose. Cutter, Stephen and Connor arrived in Cutter's 4x4. They followed Ryan's group into the building. Stephen paused to kick the football that the kids had resumed playing with. It hit a sign that read 'No Ball Games'.

"Fluke." Connor said.

"Jealous." Stephen answered. Ryan and his men arrived at the flat. They pointed their guns at it and looked ready to kick the door down. Ryan nodded to one of his men, who knocked on the door. Inside the flat, Cutter was getting ready to open the bathroom door, Ryan and a few other soldiers had their guns aimed and ready. Mrs. Davis stood behind them.

"I didn't expect the SAF." said Mrs. Davies, the owner of the flat.

"The town council takes pest control very seriously, Mrs. Davis." Cutter told her solemnly.

"Are you ready?" He asked Ryan. Ryan nodded, and the door was opened, Ryan and another soldier cautiously entered the room, closely followed by Cutter and Stephen. Connor and Mrs. Davis waited by the doorway.

"Relax everyone. It's only a python." Cutter told them, breathing a sigh of relief. Mrs. Davies let out an ear-piercing shriek.

"Only a python? What the hell were you expecting?" Mrs. Davies said in a shrill, panicked voice.

"Ow." Connor winced as the shrill scream resounded on his eardrum.

* * *

In the same room as before, Lester and Claudia were still interrogating Helen. Lester and Helen were having a staring match across the table; it was hard to say who was winning.

"Well, it turns out it was an illegally imported pet. Escaped from the upstairs flat and it's been living in the drains." Claudia informed them. Lester turned to Helen.

"Did you know it was a false alarm? You told your husband you knew how to find the anomalies." He demanded.

"Whatever I said to Nick is between me and him." Helen said cryptically.

"Prior knowledge of anomaly locations would be priceless. If you can give us that information, it's your absolute duty as a citizen to do so." Lester pressed.

"But as you pointed out, I don't even exist, so how can I be a citizen?" Helen reminded him.

"You know, I have the power to make your life extremely unpleasant." Lester told her grouchily, Helen turned to look at Claudia.

"How can you bear to work with this man?" Helen asked her.

"At the end of the day this is about something very simple. Saving lives. Now, you can do that. So if you know anything at all, just tell us." Claudia told her, not buying into her games.

"Bring Nick to me and I'll tell you everything I know." Helen told them, and leant back in her chair, content that she had won. Claudia walked out of the room and into the observation centre. She called Cutter. The phone rang for a few moments, and then he picked up.

"Do you have any idea how many times I've tried to call you today?" He said over the phone, clearly having seen the caller ID.

"I've been busy and actually you should be thanking me you're still involved at all." She told him, as she paced around the small, screen-filled room.

"You can't get rid of me. You need me." Cutter told her smugly.

"Well, the truth is we need each other. Believe me, more now than ever." Claudia said, offering a compromise.

"I hope she's driving Lester crazy." Cutter chuckled.

"You better get over here now." Claudia told him.

* * *

Connor sat sitting on the toilet seat with his laptop, watching as Stephen stood in the middle of the bathroom holding the snake, and trying to put it in a sack. Abby was standing in front of him, grinning, while Aspen watched in the doorway, an amused smile on her face.

"Don't worry; this one's just a baby. Fully grown they can be up to 20 feet long." Connor snickered as he watched Stephen handle the snake, looking extremely uncomfortable.

"That makes me feel so much better." Stephen told him sarcastically.

"Are you okay?" Abby asked him as she reached for the python.

"Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I love snakes." Stephen said as he handed it over. The snake hissed loudly.

"Somehow I doubt that." Aspen whispered to Connor, who stifled another snicker.

"We're going to need a bigger sack." Stephen said, and scooted out of the room as fast as he could without looking foolish.

"Stephen!" Abby called after him.

"Abby, can I ask you a quick favor?" Connor said from the corner where he was sitting.

"I'm a bit busy now." Abby told him.

"It's just; I'm having a bit of hassle with my flat at the moment. I was just wondering whether I could stay on your couch for a few days." Connor kept on.

"Connor, does this look like Tai Chi I'm doing?" Abby asked irritably as she handled the large snake.

"It'd just be until I sorted something out." Connor whined.

"Can't you stay with Aspen? Stephen! Where's that sack?" Stephen came back in with a bigger sack.

"She said I wasn't allowed to kip on her couch." Connor told her.

"Connor. That was when you lost your keys because you were being stupid. This is different." Aspen told him.

"How's this?" Stephen asked, holding the sack open wide.

"That's good." Abby said, and they put the snake in the sack.

"Okay, there we go." Stephen said, only to glad for the snake to be out of sight.

"Right, I'll see you in a minute." Abby said, closing the bag.

"Where are you going?" Stephen asked her, sounding slightly panicked.

"Tea break." She told him, pushed the bag into his hands and walked out of the room. Connor and Stephen looked at each pother.

"I'm not touching it." Connor told him quickly.

"Oh give it here. Men are such babies." Aspen said, rolling her eyes as she reached for the snake-filled bag. Stephen was all too glad to give it up.

"I hate snakes." He said with a shudder.

"I love them." She told him.

"Why?" Stephen asked warily.

"Because they bite." She told him.

"I'm not seeing the fun side to that." Stephen said, confused.

"So do I." She told him impishly. Stephen looked nervous and backed out of the room.

"Can I really stay with you?" Connor asked hopefully.

"So long as you don't leave your dirty socks on the floor." Aspen told him jokingly.

"That's my job." She told him and smirked. Connor laughed.

* * *

Helen sat at the same table as before; Cutter took the seat opposite her.

"Are they looking after you properly?" Cutter asked her.

"If you cared about that you wouldn't have set me up in the first place." Helen told him angrily.

"I didn't set you up." Cutter protested, and then sighed.

"Okay. Believe what you like." He told her.

"They're listening to every word, aren't they?" Helen asked him.

"I don't know. Probably." Cutter said sarcastically.

"I need you to get me out of here, Nick." She told him.

"Well, then, tell me what you know! Tell me where the anomalies are. Tell me why they're happening. Then maybe I can help you." Cutter said, frustrated.

"Right now, why is the least of your worries." Helen told him.

"You see, what does that mean?" Cutter said, annoyed.

"You want me to help? Alright, I'll help. Unless you act within the next few hours a pride of saber-toothed killers will be rampaging through central London." Helen told him, looking him right in the eye.

* * *

"Thanks for the lift." Connor said, as Tom pulled the yellow VW camper van alongside the street across from Aspen's flat.

"Man, you could have kipped on our sofa." Tom told him.

"Better offer." Connor said with a smile.

"Who from?" Tom asked, curious.

"You wouldn't know her." Connor told him, dismissively.

"Her?" Duncan said, surprised.

"A girl? Right." Tom didn't believe him. Connor grabbed his bag and stood up to leave the van.

"Whoa, you forgot this one." Tom held up a bag that had a key ring of a silver alien with red eyes.

"Hey, a Roswell key ring. That's cool." Connor said, smiling.

"It's our little house-warming present." Tom told him.

"Aw, I'm touched. Thanks a lot dudes." Connor said.

"Get out." Tom grouched at him good-naturedly.

"See ya." Connor said, and hopped out of the van.

"See ya." Tom said, and he and Duncan waved as Connor crossed the road. Tom turned to Duncan.

"You did turn it on?" Tom asked him.

"Yeah. Of course I turned it on." Duncan told him.

"Great. Whatever his secret is, we will soon know." Tom said, grinning.

"Oh yes." Duncan agreed.

Connor knocked on the door, and it was quickly opened by Aspen.

"Hey!" She said, smiling.

"You all set?" she gestured to his pack.

"Oh? Yeah." He said.

"Do your friends want to come in for a cuppa?" She asked, peering over his shoulder to where Duncan and Tom were sitting in the VW van, watching their interaction closely.

"Um. I can ask." Connor blinked, surprised.

"Go on then, I'll take this up." She told him, and grabbed the rucksacks before disappearing up the stairs.

"Unbelievable. Are you getting a signal?" Tom said to Duncan, while starring at Aspen as she vanished from view.

"Roswell's alive and kicking." Duncan told him holding up the handheld tracker, but put it down fast when Connor jogged back over to them and rapped on the window.

"What?" Asked Tom.

"Aspen wants to know if you want a cuppa before you leave." He told them. Tom and Duncan looked at each other, before hopping out of the car.

"Sure, why not?" Tom said as he locked the van and they walked over to the still open door. Half an hour later, the phone rang.

"Aspen?" It was Stephen.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"Where are you?" He said.

"At home with Connor. Why?"

"Well I hate to break up the party, but you better get over here. Helen's talking." Stephen's voice said over the phone, before he hung up. She put the phone back in her pocket.

"Connor. Time to go." She called across the room to where he and the boys were finishing up their tea.

"What is it?" He asked, putting his mug in the sink.

"Time to go. She's talking." Aspen told him. Connor's eyes went wide.

"Seriously?" He asked, and she nodded. Connor grabbed his rucksack and Aspen her wallet and keys. They ushered Tom and Duncan out of the flat apologizing all the way, only telling them that work was calling. Connor climbed into the passenger seat of her beat up Tardis-blue jeep, and they were gone in minutes.

"Well if that isn't suspicious, I don't know what is." Tom told Duncan, who nodded in agreement.

"Got the tracker?" He asked, and Duncan raised it to show him. They grinned.

* * *

Helen sat at the same table as before, Cutter was in the observation room above her with Lester and Claudia.

"Smilodon. Its literal meaning is "knife-tooth". They're up to 3 meters long. They have saber teeth. They hunt in packs. They're ruthless predators. Now, according to Helen, a large pride has established itself near an anomaly and it's only a matter of time before they find their way through." Cutter told them.

"London's a big place. Where exactly is this going to happen?" Claudia pressed for more information.

"Well, that's your problem. She won't tell us. She wants to take us there herself." Cutter told them, irritated.

"It's a trick." Lester summarized.

"I agree." Claudia said.

"That's possible. But maybe she wants to prove to you that she's not as callous as you imagine." Cutter said.

"Well, she could do that without moving a muscle." Lester grouched.

"Look, she might well be selfish, but she's not evil. I know her." Cutter told them.

"You mean you used to know her." Claudia said shortly.

"I think I trust her about as far as I can throw a stegosaurus." Lester said tersely.

"Okay, then the consequences of doing nothing could be a massacre. I don't know how you explain that to the Tourist Board." Cutter told them.

Not long later, several Jeeps pulled up outside a stadium. Inside, Helen walked onto the pitch, closely followed by Cutter, Claudia, and Ryan and two other soldiers.

"Here?" Claudia said, in disbelief.

"Do exactly as I say and this doesn't have to be a disaster." Helen told them sternly. They ended up in the kitchens of the stadium, Helen stopped in front of the kitchen's fridges. Abby, Aspen, Stephen and Connor had joined the group by now, along with a few more soldiers.

"In there?" Claudia asked.

"Yup. In there." Helen told her.

"Connor?" Claudia asked. Connor turned from where he had been standing with Aspen, looking a little apprehensive. Cutter gave him a nod. Connor approached the fridge, and pulled out his compass, while Helen and Claudia engaged in a glaring contest. The compass did nothing.

"There's no trace of a magnetic field." Connor said, looking at his compass.

"The doors are too thick, it can't penetrate the metal." Helen told them

"Is that true?" Claudia turned to Cutter for confirmation.

"Possible." Said Cutter.

"Watch her." Claudia told Ryan. She went to unlock the fridge as Ryan moved closer to Helen, gun ready.

"Hey! What if the cats have already come through? They could be right behind that door." Helen protested. Claudia stepped back and shook her head.

"You know what; she's really starting to get on my nerves." She told Cutter.

"I can understand that." Cutter told her sympathetically.

"You're bluffing." Claudia said.

"Try me." Helen wouldn't back down. Claudia backed up and looked at Stephen.

"Stephen." Stephen went to open the fridge, stopping when he noticed that it was locked with a padlocked chain. Helen handed him a knife from her belt, and he broke open the lock. The soldiers stepped into position as he and Ryan opened the doors. The anomaly was inside, and its magnetic field started pulling various items across the room.

"Get down!" Ryan shouted.

"Connor get down!" shouted Aspen, as Connor stood and stared at the anomaly. Luckily, Stephen caught a metal sieve just before it hit Connor in the head.

"This is where you duck." He told Connor, who gulped.

"Okay." He hit the deck. Everyone ducked as more items flew into the anomaly.

"You know, you'd make a terrible poker player." Helen said to Claudia. She and Claudia shared another look. Things had stopped flying about, and Connor walked into the fridge.

"Anybody hungry?" Connor asked as he nicked a pie from the walk-in fridge.

"Oh my God. We've got to get rid of them. The meat will act like bait." Helen tried to rush into the fridge, but Ryan and another soldier grabbed hold of her. Cutter went past her into the fridge. Helen grabbed hold of Ryan's tac vest.

"Unless you want your men to be breakfast, I suggest you do something." Helen told them, and Cutter started passing boxes of pies out to Stephen.

"Here." Cutter said, and Ryan shook Helen off, and moved to help.

"Okay, clear them out." Ryan instructed his men, and they moved to help.

"Quickly, here." Cutter handed another box to Helen.

"Okay." Helen took the box and handed it to one of the soldiers.

"Take this." Cutter rolled a trolley out to Stephen, and as he did. Helen ran past hi and dove into the anomaly.

"Get her back!" Claudia shouted.

"Helen!" Cutter shouted, and Ryan went after her. Cutter was held back by a pair if soldiers, he looked at Stephen, who took off into the anomaly.

"For God's sake, someone stop him!" Claudia shouted. Stephen exited the anomaly on the other side, and rolled down a small hill. As he came to a stop, Ryan spun and pointed his gun at him. Stephen put up his hands and climbed to his feet as Ryan lowered the gun. Thunder echoed across the grassy plains.

"Oh my God." Stephen said once he got a good look at his surroundings. It was a junction of anomalies. At least 7 anomalies were open in the area, and Helen was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

The core team stared at the laptop, looking at a photo that showed them the other side of the anomaly.

"It's incredible." Cutter said, amazed.

"It's the spaghetti junction of anomalies." Connor said, staring at the screen.

"There's no way I could follow her. It would be like running into a Hall of Mirrors." Stephen told them apologetically.

"Let me guess, not one saber-toothed cat in sight." Claudia said frostily.

"Not even a kitten." Stephen said, annoyed.

"You tried to follow her." Claudia accused Cutter.

"To stop her. What possible reason could I have for wanting her to escape? I want answers more than anyone." Cutter told them. Suddenly, there was a chirping noise, and the anomaly rippled.

"Incoming." Ryan said, and his men raised their guns, aiming at the sound of squawking and roaring could be heard from the other side. The noises continued as a bunch of dodos came through. They knocked one soldier over, and then chaos descended as everybody began to chase them.

"Round them up! Don't let them get out!" Aspen shouted, and they did their best to contain the flightless birds. In the commotion, once poor soldier ended up sliding across the floor on his belly as the dodo he was chasing moved out of his way. Cutter pretended to be a matador, and using his coat he herded one into a managed to trap one underneath an upturned bin. In the chaos nobody noticed one of the dodo's eating Connor's Roswell keyring. Aspen only barely just looked up in time to see the same dodo running out of the door, and she bolted after it. This particular dodo could not be allowed to escape.

"Woo hoo!" Connor said, excited.

"Go on, get in. In you go. In there." Cutter shooed the dodo into the small office. The bin with a dodo under it moved, and Stephen grabbed it, and held it down.

* * *

Tom and Duncan sat in the van outside the stadium, as they watched a couple of soldiers on guard and pretended to read newspapers.

"This is Area 51 all over again." Tom muttered, looking out over the tops of his paper.

"Alien landing site?" Duncan asked him.

"Mmm-hmm. The secrecy, the SWAT teams, they must have some kind of bunker under there, man." Tom was certain.

"In a football stadium?" Duncan said confused.

"Duncan! Shh! That's the beauty of it, yeah? It's the last place anyone would expect it." Tom fussed at Duncan.

"Yeah." Duncan muttered as they watched the two soldiers go inside.

"God, these people are clever. Really clever." Tom said as they climbed out of the van, with the tracking device in hard.

"Right, Connor's on the move." Duncan said watching the device.

_"_He should be appearing right about … now." Tom said, extremely confused as a dodo emerged and flapped around.

"Oh my God. They've turned Connor into a turkey!" Duncan panicked.

"That is not a turkey. Let's grab it." Tom said. They were about to sneak up on the dodo, when Aspen appeared in the entrance behind the dodo, dangling a piece with a scrunched up ball of newspaper tied on the end. The dodo was very interested. She dangled it higher and higher as the dodo came closer, before suddenly darting forward and slamming a plastic box down over it. The box started moving, so she sat down on it and pulled out her phone.

* * *

"They're great!" Cutter said, absolutely gleeful as he sat on the floor with three of the Dodo's around him. Abby and Connor stood in the doorway, looking amused. Claudia and Ryan were with them, looking... not so amused.

"Dodos." Claudia said, clearly shocked.

"Oh, they're so cute." Abby cooed.

"And so dumb." Connor said, as one of the Dodo's walked into a wall.

"They're not stupid, just trusting. It's not their fault they became extinct." Abby protested.

"Funny, you weren't this sentimental about the gorgonopsid." Connor remarked, as Stephen arrived behind him and put his hand on Connor's shoulder.

"Is that the lot?" Claudia asked.

"Yep, that's it." Stephen said.

"We better ship this lot back before we upset Darwin. Now everybody, um … grab a dodo." Cutter told them, and they began to herd the dodo's through the anomaly. Abby assisted Stephen with a particularly stubborn one.

"Go on." Cutter said, shooing them through.

"They're so cute!" Abby cooed again, watching them go.

"Come on. Hey, hey, wait." Cutter leapt out of the way as the dodo's started rushing through.

"Professor, we have a dodo down." Ryan shouted from behind them. The last dodo was lying on the floor, obviously dead. Cutter and Stephen crouched down to check it out.

"Oh no." Claudia said sadly.

"Oh, how did that happen?" Abby asked, turning back toward them.

"Maybe it ate one of the pies." Connor said jokingly as he looked down at the compass, checking the field. Cutter gave him a dirty look.

"Sorry." Connor apologized.

"Poor little guy. We should do an autopsy to find out how he died." Cutter said.

"Could have been the shock." Stephen suggested.

"Well we've both been through and we're alright." Cutter answered, dismissing the theory.

"As far as we know." Stephen muttered.

"Cutter! The anomaly is fading." Connor called from next to the freezer, he turned back in time to see it close. Then Connor's phone rang.

"Yes?" Connor said, picking up.

"What? Alright, I'm on my way." He said into the phone.

"Is there a problem?" Cutter asked him.

"Uh - That was Aspen. One of the dodo's made a break for the outside, and she has him trapped under a box." Connor told them. Claudia gave orders for the dodo's body to be taken back to the lab, and faster than you could say anomaly, Cutter and the others had darted up toward the entrance to where Aspen was waiting. It didn't take long for them to bundle it into a box and put in the back of one of the Jeeps.

"What are we going to do with it?" Abby asked.

'We keep it!" Connor said cheerfully.

"No, what if it's diseased?" Aspen said, knowing full well that it was. Cutter thought about it for a moment.

"We take it back to the labs with us, and have it put in under quarantine." He decided. They shut the door on the boxed up bird, and went their separate ways, not knowing that they had been watched by Connor's overly inquisitive friends.

* * *

Back at the labs; Cutter, Stephen and Abby stood around the body of the dead dodo that they had brought back to the lab, ready to do an autopsy. Cutter was about to make an incision when the dodo jerked violently. The three of them jumped back, surprised.

"Whoa, whoa. It's … its muscle spasm." Stephen said, trying to reassure them all.

"No. It's been dead for hours. Okay." Cutter them, and they approached the dodo again. As Cutter moved, once again, to cut the bird open, it jerked. But this time, its mouth opened and a screaming, worm-like creature wriggled out. It fell to the floor and started wriggling toward Abby. She backed up against the wall.

"Stephen, grab that." Cutter shouted, pointing to a bell jar, which Stephen quickly grabbed and out down over the worm, trapping it. They breathed a collective sigh of relief.

* * *

**17.12.2012**

**AN: As you can see, I'm just past the halfway mark of Season 1. I will however be writing a Christmas Special which I intend to have up either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Night, and it will be the final chapter of this fic, which should bring it to a total of 13 chapters. **

**Now, I know for a fact, that as of 20 minutes ago, 101 different people have visited this story. Only two individual people review. Seriously, I may cry. So, to save my dignity, and as a gift: I'll write two different versions of the Special, and if I can get 10 reviews between now and Christmas Eve, I'll upload the one with that has Aspen giving Connor a basket of Mistletoe for Christmas, and you'll get to see what mischief he gets up to with it. I'll even count the first two fro Caz and Rubytronix so there's only 8 more needed. Seriously though - don't do the whole "Call 911!" scenario because if everybody says that, nobody does it. Ergo - you want it, you type it.**

**As to whether anybody dies next chapter, we'll see how merciful I'm feeling.**

**Much thanks for the 35 Brittish, 27 Americans, 20 from Singaporeans (sp?), 7 Canadians, 3 Pole's, 3 Australians, 2 Japanese, 2 French, 2 Germans, 1 Indian, and 1 Taiwanese; who all spared the time to read this fic.**

**Reminders: **

**(1) I'm formatting it as I go, into a PDF for those of you who might be interested in reading it on your Kindle. I'll only be releasing it at the end of each story I do to save on confusion. If, at the end, you want it a copy, leave an Email I can send it to in the bottom of a review with the phrase "PDF Please", and I'll put you on the mailing list.**

**(2) Does anybody have copies of, or can tell me where to find the Primeval scripts for Season 2 onwards. I only have up to the first few episodes of Season 2, and I'm having a hard time to track them down. Please, Please, PLEASE help a girl out here.**

**(3) Galadriel Steinman is the new look-a-like for Aspen:**

**(i) www dot imdb dot com/media/rm712354048/nm3004687**

**(ii) ia dot media-imdb dot com/images/M/MV5BMTkwNzc2NzEyM15BMl5BanBn XkFtZTcwNDg5NDg0OA ._V1._SX214_CR0,0,214,314_.jpg**

**(iii) ia dot media-imdb dot com/images/M/MV5BMTYxNDc1MzYwMl5BMl5BanBn XkFtZTcwNTc5NDg0OA ._V1._SX640_SY960_.jpg**

**(iv) img005 dot lazygirls dot info/people/galadriel_stineman/galadriel_stineman_ben_10_alien_swarm_premiere_ .jpg**


	8. Chapter 8: A Leap of Faith

**Arguing with Time**

**Sophia Conrad**

**1.4: A Leap of Faith**

* * *

_"I really need to shoot something right about now."_

_― Aspen Wilder_

* * *

Lester joined Cutter, Stephen and Abby in the lab, where Cutter was examining the parasite.

"It looks like some type of larva." Stephen said, looking at the worm.

"No, it's an adult."Cutter informed them, as he got a better look at it.

"It's some kind of giant cestoid. It's destroyed the internal organs and attacked the central nervous system." He told them, prodding it with one of the instruments.

"I thought the trick of being a good parasite was to live off the host creature without killing it." Lester said dryly.

"No, this one doesn't compromise. It enters the blood stream as larvae, it feeds off the host, and then it moves up the body to lay its eggs." Cutter said morbidly.

"Keeping itself alive just long enough to reproduce itself." Stephen continued.

"And then mission accomplished, they both die together." Cutter confirmed.

"Isn't nature wonderful?" Lester said sarcastically.

* * *

Outside of the Labs where the team had quarantined the live Dodo, Tom and Duncan waited in the VW van. When the Dodo had come rushing out of the stadium, and registered on the tracking device, they had realized that somehow the tracker was in the bird instead of on Connor. So, not quite believing their luck, they had followed the signal to the labs, and were now plotting on how to get in and commandeer the evidence of what they thought was a conspiracy.

"What kind of conspiracy is this?" Duncan whispered.

"Cloning probably. Or maybe they're experimenting on birds so they can spy on us." Tom muttered back.

"Oh. How're we gonna get in there then?" Duncan asked. Tom thought about it for the moment, staring at the lab as he did so.

"There doesn't seem to be any security, so we could probably just go in one of the side doors." He told Duncan slowly.

"Let's do it then!" Duncan was overeager to get in. They got out of the van, and sidled up to one of the doors and opened it. They slipped inside, and used the tracker to find the lab.

"Hey! You!" A lab technician stopped them in the hall.

"You can't be in here." She told them. Luckily, Tom was quick on his feet.

"Didn't they tell you we were coming?" He asked.

"Who?" The lab technician demanded.

"We're with Connor Temple's group, got stuck in traffic." He told her, fingers crossed behind his back.

"It's alright, we've been cleared. We were just heading down there now." He reassured her. She blinked for a moment, and nodded.

"Alright then." She said, and carried on down the hallway, not seeing them punch the air behind her back. They returned to following the tracker.

* * *

In the observation chamber, Aspen and Connor waited for Cutter and the others to return from the autopsy they were performing on the floor above. Inside the quarantine room, the dodo flapped around investigating the newspaper on the floor happily.

"Why don't you go see if they've found out anything?" Aspen said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I can keep an eye on Dipsy here." She said.

"Alright, but Dipsy?" He laughed.

"What else are we going to call it? Flower?" She said, smiling.

"Dipsy the Dodo. Now I've hear it all." He said and shook his head as he walked out of the door. Not even five minutes later, the tea she had drank before heading out made its presence known, and she slipped out the door to visit the bathroom down the hallway.

* * *

On the floor above, Claudia had joined the autopsy team.

"How infectious is this?" She demanded.

"It's not a virus, it's a parasite." Cutter told her as Connor walked in.

"Who's watching the dodo?" Stephen asked.

"Aspen." Connor told them as the phone on the wall started ringing. Abby picked it up, being nearest. She spoke with the caller for a few minutes, before putting the phone back down.

"That was reception, apparently a lab technician wanted us to know that they rest of our group was on their way up." She told them all, confused. Connor's eyes went wide.

"But if we're all here, then who did the technician see?" Cutter said, looking to Claudia who shrugged.

"No idea, but they're not ours." she told him.

"She's in there on her own!" Connor said, and dialed her number.

* * *

She was washing her hands when the phone rang.

"Hello?" She said.

_"Aspen! It's Connor!"_ Connor's voice was distorted over the phone.

"Yes, I can see that." She told him.

_"You've got to lock the door! Somebody's coming!" _He warned her.

_"We'll be there in a minute."_ He said, and hung up.

"Oh no." She said, remembering that the files had said that Connor's friends had put a tracker on him. The same tracker that the dodo ended up eating. She ran back to the lab as fast as she could, and got there just in time to pull Tom out of the way as the Dodo lunged for him. It crashed into the wall, and she dragged both boys across the room to safety.

"What the hell are you doing?" She shouted at them, one eye on Dipsy the Dodo as it shook its head and climbed to its feet.

"What are we doing? Why the hell do you have an extinct bird in your lab?" Tom shouted back at her.

"Long story - Move!" She said, pulling them both out of the birds' path.

"Whatever you do, don't let it bite you." She told them, reaching for the EMD that she had holstered on her leg.

"What's that?" Duncan asked her, noticing the gun for the first time.

"Uh - Supertaser?" She said lamely, flicking her head to get her hair out of her face. The dodo lunged at them again, but this time she brought the EMD up and shot it twice in quick succession. The flightless bird went down, and they slid down the wall to sit on the floor, and laughed.

"That was close." Tom said, looking at her. The bird twitched, and they jumped.

"Oh god, for a second I thought it would be like one those movies when you think the killer is finally dead and then all of a sudden they just jump up again?" Aspen told them, holding a hand to her chest.

"I hate those films." Duncan told her.

"Me too." She laughed as the rest of the team rushed in to see them slumped against the wall, and the Dodo down for the count.

"What the hell happened here?" Claudia asked.

"Dipsy here," Aspen nodded to the dead bird, "Tried to eat us."

"One minute it was friendly, and the next it just went crazy." Tom told them.

"The parasite changed the dodo's behavior to suit its own purposes." Cutter told them.

"Parasite?" Duncan said, sounding strangled. They ignored him.

"Which were?" Claudia asked.

"To pass itself on. That's why it tried to bite them, so it could incubate its eggs in the new host." Stephen told her. Claudia exhaled, looking not unlike a dragon. She rounded on Tom and Duncan.

"Are you the idiots who tried to steal the dodo?" Claudia demanded of the boys.

"There's no law against capturing extinct animals." Tom protested.

"You broke into a government facility and tried to steal an official secret. That makes it treason. You also managed to put one of my team in danger in the process!" She shouted angrily. They cowered against the wall.

"What I don't understand how they found it." Connor said, confused.

"They tracked you." Aspen said.

"What?" Now it was Connor who sounded strangled.

"They put a tracker on you, the key chain." She told him quietly.

"What? You bugged me? Of cause you did. Because that's how you found the dodo, right?" Connor said angrily.

"Well, you were the one with all the secrets. SWAT teams, girlfriends…" Duncan protested. Aspen groaned.

"We're not dating you nimrod. Connor's my brother." She told them, banging her head against the wall. On the floor, the dodo's body began to jerk, as the parasite slid out of it.

"Get back!" Aspen shouted, on her feet in a flash, already training her EMD on it. She fired, and missed as it wriggled toward the door where the rest of the team stood. In his haste to get out of the way, Connor tripped over his own feet and fell backwards as the parasite lunged forwards at him, and Aspen finally managed to hit it with the last feeble burst that her EMD had. It landed by his foot, seemingly dead, and they laughed. But then it moved again - Aspen's gun had only stunned it.

"Ow!" Connor yelped, as it bit him.

"It bit me!" He said, as they watched it keel over and die, actually dead this time. Aspen went white.

"Oh no." Abby said, and they all stared at Connor.

* * *

Waiting out in the hall was torture, Aspen had decided. After Connor had been bitten, they'd rushed him to the nearest hospital where Claudia had used her connections to rush him in for an MRI scan to see how fast the parasite was progressing. He'd already been pale and sweaty by the time they got there, and Aspen was starting to panic. In the end, she sat motionless in a chair outside the exam room next to Abby and Stephen. Tom and Duncan had followed along, but wisely chose to sit further down the corridor in case of a meltdown.

"This isn't happening. This cannot be happening." She kept muttering under her breath like a mantra, as if she could change things by willpower alone. Inside the room, Cutter and Claudia were discussing Connor's condition with the Doctor.

"What's going on?" The Doctor who had been scanning Connor asked.

"A suspected case of rabies." Cutter told him.

"No, this isn't rabies. I saw something on the scan. It was inside him." The Doctor insisted.

"Work with us. Rabies sounds a whole lot better on the news than parasitic worm. We don't want people to panic, and it's isolated to this single case." Claudia told him.

"I can't lie about this; it could be a threat to public health." The Doctor told them, Claudia pulled him to the side.

"Look. A member of my team is under your care due to a problem that he could _die_ from. His sister is sitting out there in the hall, praying to every god under the sun. You will fix this, because I'll be dammed if I have to tell her that the only family she has is gone." She told him in a low, dangerous voice. The doctor swallowed audibly.

"We'll prep him for surgery."

* * *

Aspen had changed her mind. _This_ was torture. All she could do was wait as they operated. Cutter had just sat there, unmoving since Connor had gone into the theatre, and Claudia had finally sent Abby and Stephen to get some food. Aspen had started pacing after the first hour, her boots squeaking on the worn floor every time she turned.

"Could you stop doing that?" It was Tom. Aspen turned to glare at him in a way that might have scared a tiger away.

"You're not the only one worried." He told her. Aspen lunged for him, only to be held back by Abby who had just arrived back with Stephen and a bag of food.

"Aspen, no!" Abby said, struggling to hold onto the irate redhead who seemed intent on shredding the man.

"He shouldn't have said that." Cutter muttered under his breath at the same time as Claudia sighed.

"You! This is _all your fault_!" She screeched.

"Here we go." Stephen said.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" She shouted at Tom, who cringed and tried to make himself as small as possible.

"It's not his fault." Duncan said, and Aspen turned on him

"Isn't it?" She demanded.

"That bird was quarantined for a _reason! _What the hell were you thinking when you opened a door that was clearly marked '_Warning: Danger of Biohazards_'?" She was practically breathing fire.

"Aspen, that's enough." Claudia told her. Tom and Duncan seemed to let out a sigh of relief, which was sucked in again when she continued.

"If you want to kill them, wait until we're _outside_ the hospital. I doubt the cleaners will appreciate it very much."

"If he dies, then I assure you that nobody will _ever_ find your bodies. I'll flipping well feed you to a pride of lion's myself." Aspen hissed, her tone promising.

"You're bluffing." Tom said.

"Where would you get the lions anyway? The local zoo?" Duncan pointed out, but shrank back as Aspen smiled. It wasn't a nice smile; it was the kind of smile that you might imagine a crocodile wearing as it closed in for the kill.

"I have full access to both the London Zoo, _and _the lion's feeding area." Abby told them over Aspen's shoulder. They gulped.

"Do you _really_ want to test me?" Aspen asked them. They shook their heads and she went back to pacing.

"I really need to shoot something right now." Aspen muttered, and Claudia groaned as Aspen flung herself down into a chair.

* * *

In the end, it had taken over three hours for the doctors to operate on Connor because the growing worm rarely stayed still. Now, Aspen sat in a patient room next to a bed, in which Connor lay, breathing quietly. He was still so pale. On the other side of them room, the rest of the team was sitting in chairs that they had moved there upon discovering that there was only a few to begin with. The doctors had tried to protest, but were stopped by the man who Claudia had had words with earlier. There was still no clear result, and there were a few last tests to be run. She'd eventually resorted to praying, practically begging any and all gods out there for their help. After what seemed like an age, a doctor walked into the room, and everybody sat up.

"We've just finished up with the last tests, and he'll be fine, bar some twitching due to nerve damage. Because the nervous system is so delicate, it's unsure if he'll ever heal completely, but we're hopeful. He'll be free to go in the morning." The doctor told them with a smile. The group let out a collective sigh, and the doctor left.

"Hell of a day." Abby said as she and Stephen got up and headed out.

"Just one question." Said Cutter form where he was sitting, stopping Abby and Stephen in their tracks.

"What?" Stephen asked.

"What're we going to do about Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dumb out there?" Cutter asked, pointing to Tom and Duncan who were waiting outside.

"Oh, I'm sure I can think of something." Claudia said with an evil smile. Nobody dared to ask.

* * *

_"There's a place in my mind where I'm already gone,_  
_It's a world that I've never seen before;_  
_Put my head through the clouds let them block in the sun,_  
_Turn off the lights and lock the door._

_All of my memories all of my mistakes,_  
_I'm gonna put them into my suitcase;_  
_All of my dreams and all of my heartache,_  
_I'll put them together here in my suitcase." _Aspen sang quietly, sitting by Connor's bed.

"You have a terrible singing voice." Aspen turned her head to see Connor's eyes opening blearily. She smiled.

"Just kidding." He told her.

"You scared the hell out of me!" She told him, tearing up.

"Sorry?" He said, and tried to sit up.

"What's the verdict then?" He asked, as she moved to help him.

"The Doctor's say you be fine." She said. He smiled.

"But it was a very near miss." She told him.

"I am going to kill those two." Connor told her, referring to Duncan and Tom.

"I can't believe they bugged me!" He told her indignantly.

"Don't worry about them." She told him. He gave her an odd look.

"Aspen... What did you do?" Connor sounded worried.

"Chill. They're groveling to Claudia right now. They've somehow gotten it into their heads that she's going to save them from me." She told him with a smile.

"And is she?" Connor asked warily. Aspen smirked.

"Maybe."

* * *

**18.12.2012**

**AN: Rewriting this was hard, and I do mean hard. I spent about 3 hours alternating between planning and staring at the screen with only country music and a bottle of pepsi for company before my brain started working. Then it took another 3 to complete. I had very little script material to work with, considering the angle I wanted, because even though I'm changing the game, I'm still determined to stick with the principle with which it is very hard to change the future. For example, if you save one person from death, another might easily take their place. You could pull somebody back from crossing the path of a speeding truck, only to accidentally knock another into the road. Ergo - Connor's stint in the hospital.**

**Aspen's actions during this were entirely dictated by the first 3 stages of grief; Denial, Anger and Bargaining. The latter two, Depression and Acceptance, were never reached. Having lost her family (see bio), she was already emotionally pre-programmed to expect the worst. As to whether Aspen might have carried out her threat... I myself am uncertain there. Just how far would you go if you lost somebody you loved. Perhaps it's easier for me, as the writer to understand her actions, so in case anything needs clearing up, the facts I'm willing to give are in her bio at the bottom. Oh, and i****n case you were wondering, the song Aspen was singing near the end is called "Suitcase" by Shae Fisher.**

**Reminders:**

**(1) The amount of reviews still needed for Connor's mistleote pranks stands at 7, so get going guys. It won't be long until I have to write it. Much thanks to Rubytronix for her super awesome review. Virtual Hearts and Cookies for her! She really made my day. Don't forget, I spent SIX hours working on this for you today, and that was without a bathroom break or food. I'm stopping for a 20 minuted break, and then starting the next chapter. Y'all owe me a review or two.**

**(2)If anybody had copies of, or can locate the Primeval scripts for Season 2 onwards, they would be my personal hero's as I still only have up to the first few episodes of Season 2, and I'm STILL having a hard time tracking them down. Please, Please, PLEASE help a girl out here.**

* * *

**Aspen's bio:-**

**Nam****e(s): **Aspen Faith Wilder, "Penny", "Penn".

**Age: **23, (born 1987).

**Height: **5 foot, 7 inches.

**Weight: **Unknown - She'd punch you if you asked.

**Look-a-like:** www dot imdb dot com/name/nm3004687/

**Weapon of Choice: **EMD (origins of weapon are unknown.)

**Affiliations: **Anomaly Response Team, Conner Temple, ARC (Season 2+).

**Abilities: **Aspen is an expert marksmen. (This hints at possible military training, but is unconfirmed.)

**Fears: **Unknown as of yet. (_Will be revelaed in later chapter's, see 11 &12)_

**History: **As far as the official records go. Aspen was orphaned at age 9 on a camping trip, where she saw her parents die. She was lost in the woods after that for a week, and when they finally found her, she wouldn't speak.

After being released from hospital, she went to live with her aunt, who reported that she displayed nervous habits such as being jumpy, sensitive to sound, and would react like a frightened animal when touched unexpectedly. She would have nightmares, seemed to be emotionally numb and could not seem to focus. (These are classic symptoms of PTSD.) Her aunt made her go to therapy sessions, but she never responded.

When she was 12, she disappeared, and then reappeared at the age of 16, saying that she had been with friends, who she would not name. Initial reviews showed her to be healthy, and even completely recovered from her PTSD. All attempts at discovering where she had been were rebuffed or pushed to the side. Eventually, at 19, she moved out and went to college where she met Connor a year later, when he hid her from a rather persistent boy who wanted a date. They formed a sibling bond, and that was that.

* * *

**So there you have it, Don't say that I don't every do anything for you guys.**

**Sophia.**


	9. Chapter 9: The Dangers of Golfing

**Arguing with Time**

**Sophia Conrad**

**1.5: The Dangers of Golfing**

* * *

_"__Rex! I swear, when I catch you, you're gonna be the first animal to become extinct twice!__"_

―_Connor Temple_

* * *

At the Forest Heights Country Club. A golfer named Andy drove up to the top of a fairway on a golf buggy, and selected a club.

"Tiger Woods eat your heart out." He said, swung at the ball and missed. In a Sand Bunker, not too far away, his friend Jeff was stuck, spraying sand with every swing. Andy swung a couple more times before he finally hit the ball, sending it into a pond. A low growling echoed from the woods, and his mobile phone rang.

"Jeff." He said.

_"I got stuck on a bunker. Are you on the green yet?"_ Jeff said over the phone. _Andy looked at the pond._

"Yeah. Easy." Andy lied.

"Okay." Jeff hung up, and Andy went down to the pond to try to retrieve his ball. He put his hand in the murky water and felt around until he found a ball, completely missing the other two balls, and the sheep skull were submerged there. He chucked the ball over his shoulder onto the green.

Later, Andy was driving his buggy slowly down the green. Jeff was walking behind him, dragging his bag of clubs.

"Jeff. I mean, you could have got your own buggy. You didn't have to be such a tightwad, did you?" Andy told him.

"Oh, come on. Give us a lift." Jeff complained.

"Come on, hurry up." Andy told him, Jeff went to put his bag on the buggy, but Andy accelerated away, laughing.

"You're joking." Jeff sighed. At the next green, Andy was tee-ing off. He hit his ball into the tree line and went in after it.

"So where are you, you little git?" Andy said, as he searched through the ferns, yelling when he scratches his hand on something. He shook his hand, and a drop of blood spattered on a tree. He walked out of the trees, inspecting his injured hand. He turned and looked towards where he had just walked from, and saw something. Andy dropped his golf club and started to run. He glances over his shoulder as something swooped down on to him. Nearby, Jeff was playing on a section of the green, but stopped when he heard Andy's screams. Jeff ran toward where the screams were coming from, and found Andy's body. Further down the course lay a bloodstained shoe.

* * *

At Abby's flat, Connor was sitting on the floor with Rex, playing on an XBox. Behind him Abby and Aspen were packing sports bags and topping up their water bottles in preparation for their weekly yoga class.

"We're off to yoga!" Abby told Connor as she pulled on her trainers, and went into the kitchen to grab an apple.

"Right." Connor said as he returned to his game.

"Well, any time you need help with you're bending or with your stretching, you should give me a call." Connor told Abby, as she walked back into the room and stood between Connor and the TV.

"Windows shut at all times." Abby told him.

"Yup." Connor said, as he leant back and forth, trying to see the TV.

"Connor - are you actually listening, or just agreeing?" Aspen asked.

"Yup." Connor said again, and Aspen shook her head.

"Get in and leave by the same exit." Abby said, and she and Aspen walked out the door. Rex moved a little closer to Connor, chirping again.

"She likes me Rex. Oh yeah. She likes me bad." Connor told the small reptile. Rex didn't answer.

* * *

There was a Manor house at the golf course, and an ambulance was parked outside. A Special Forces soldier ran towards it, while Claudia spoke to Captain Ryan.

"Four hours? I told you to seal the perimeter, not dry stone wall it. I want it done in an hour. Where's the golfer's body?" Claudia stood with Captain Ryan.

"In the casualty clearance centre in the main house." Ryan told her.

"Are there any more victims?" Claudia asked.

"None we know of." He reported.

"Good. Keep me briefed." She told him. Ryan moved off, and Claudia approached Cutter and Stephen who were talking to Jeff, who appears to be being treated for shock. .

"Okay, thanks." Cutter said to Jeff, as he and Stephen moved off to talk to Claudia

"What did he see?" Claudia asked.

"All over by the time we got here." Cutter told her.

"Have you found the anomaly yet?" Claudia wanted to know.

"Well, we're not absolutely sure there is one yet. And I need to see the victim." Cutter said, and Stephen went back to talk to Jeff again.

"Look, I think I should warn you. Lester's getting impatient. Thinks' you cause more problems than you solve." Claudia warned.

"What do you think?" Cutter asked.

"I think it would be helpful if I could show him we're making some kind of progress." Claudia told him.

"Or what?" Cutter asked.

"Or it becomes difficult." She told him.

"Look, Lester doesn't own this. The government doesn't own this. If you really want to help, keep him off my back." Cutter told her, irritated.

"Please don't make me take sides, Nick." Claudia said as they walked into the Manor.

* * *

Connor sat in Abby's flat with Rex, still playing his video game. By now he had moved up onto the sofa, Rex sat beside him, playing with a wotsit.

"You enjoying that, Rex?" Connor asked the lizard, and the phone rang. He paused the game to pick it up.

"Abby Maitland's love shack, number one stud speaking." Connor started out, jokingly, only to change his tone quickly.

"Oh, no, no, it's … It's Connor, Professor. Yeah, must have been a … Sorry?" Connor said stunned. Quick as a flash he was out of the flat and heading toward Abby's Mini Cooper that sat outside, not realizing he had left a window open, a window that Rex looked quite interested in. Outside, Connor climbed into the car, and as he leant over to get a book out of his bag, Rex swooped into the car, unnoticed by Connor.

* * *

At the manor, Andy's body had been moved into a room while the Special Forces Medic took a look at him. Inside the room, the medic was putting a sheet over Andy's body, which Cutter and Claudia had been looking at. Claudia turned away.

"He's been torn to shreds." The Medic informed them.

"It's almost surgical the way the flesh has been torn away so cleanly. There's no wastage." Cutter told them morbidly.

"Any idea what might have done this?" Claudia wanted to know.

"A creature of devastating power and savagery, to do just that in a few minutes. There's one thing for sure. It came through an anomaly. The first thing we have to do is find that." Cutter told her, and walked off down onto the course, where Abby, Aspen and Stephen joined him.

"No trampled or broken vegetation. No track marks and no sign of any anomaly, but there is one hell of a magnetic field, so it's to be here somewhere. Unless there's a pylon causing interference." Stephen told them, scanning their surroundings. Apparently he was in what Connor called 'Mighty Hunter Mode' whenever he thought Stephen couldn't hear.

"Can't see anything." Abby said, as she looked around too.

"Be quiet a minute and let me think here." Cutter said.

"Quiet!" Aspen hissed.

"We didn't say anything." Abby said.

"No, I mean it's too quiet. Listen. There's no birdsong." Aspen told them. Abby looked around at the trees.

"Not a peep." She said, stunned.

"They're scared off." Stephen confirmed.

"What would scare the birds away? You were wrong, it's not a pylon. There is an anomaly." Cutter said, looking around.

"Where?" Stephen asked.

"Took you long enough" Aspen said.

"What?" Cutter said.

"Look up." She told him. They all looked up and saw the glittering ball of light in the sky.

"We're standing right underneath it." Cutter gaped.

"It's an aerial predator." Stephen said, as the pieces fell into place.

"Wow." Abby said, and Aspen looked away.

"Yeah, that's one way of putting it. Now how the hell do we cordon off the sky?" Cutter mused. Stephen looked to the side, in the direction that Aspen was staring in, and saw something. It was the Pteranodon.

"Cutter." He said warningly.

"I mean, this thing could be anywhere by now." Cutter continued, not noticing that Abby had now joined the others in staring at the Pteranodon. Cutter was looking in the wrong direction.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Stephen told him as Abby and Aspen threw themselves to the ground. Stephen tackled Cutter as the Pteranodon dives at them, screeching. They climbed to their feet as it pulled out of the dive and flapped off.

"So, not so hard to find then." Aspen quipped, getting a few glares in the process.

* * *

Connor pulled up at a gate being guarded by a pair of soldiers.

"Access all areas, I think you'll find. Thank you." Connor told them smugly and held up his ID card, the soldiers let him pass. Rex sat on the parcel shelf above the boot. The guy who had checked the ID looked at Rex curiously as Connor drove past. Connor drove towards the Manor, and parked outside. He climbed out of the car, took his jacket and turned to put it inside only to get a nasty surprise in the form of Rex sitting on the top of the car.

"Oh my God! Oh, sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to shout. I was just… I was a bit shocked, that's all, that you're here. I mean, it's lovely, that you're here and everything. It's probably best if you stay in the car, mate. Yeah? Okay, there's a good lizard. Nice and still. Nice and still, Rex." Connor rambled as he edged around the car. He tried to grab Rex, who bounced happily to the other side of the car roof.

"Do you want to play? You want to play! Of course you do. Rex, please, mate. My life's not going to be worth living if we get caught. Just get back in the car, yeah?" Connor begged the flying lizard. He lunged for Rex, but missed as Rex jumped up and flew off to the woods, Connor ran after him.

At the other end of the course, Cutter was watching the pteranodon through a pair of binoculars. Abby, Aspen and Stephen were with him.

"What is it?" Abby asked.

"Pterodactyloid pterosaur. It's probably a pteranodon." Cutter told them.

"Is it what killed the golfer?" Abby asked.

"I'd say it's definitely in the frame." Stephen told her.

"Well, pteranodon was supposed to have mainly eaten small reptiles and fish." Cutter pointed out.

"Probably just snacking until human's came along." Stephen argued.

"Why's it circling?" Aspen asked, watching the large dinosaur soar through the air.

"Looking for a roost?" Stephen suggested.

"Well, it's spoilt for choice. Certainly looking for something." Cutter said. At the other end of the fairway, Rex emerges from the trees, closely followed by Connor who was shouting something. Aspen knew he was cursing and threatening the small reptile. Then Stephen noticed them, and Aspen winced.

"Is that Connor?" Stephen asked, pointing to further down the course.

"What?" Cutter said turning to Stephen.

"Connor." Stephen said, still pointing. Aspen smacked the palm of her hand into her forehead.

"I'm going to kill that boy." She murmured.

"What's he doing?" Abby asked, standing on her tiptoes trying to get a better look.

"More importantly, what's our friend up there doing?" Cutter muttered, still looking through the binoculars.

"He's not looking for a roost. He's looking for lunch!" Stephen suddenly realized.

"Connor! Connor!" They started shouting as a group.

"Connor! Come here, quickly!" Cutter shouted, panicking. Connor froze.

"Ryan! Will you come over here quickly?" Cutter shouted, and Claudia, Ryan and two soldiers hurried over to where Nick and the others were standing. Connor turned to see the pteranodon.

"Get into the trees!" Abby shouted.

"Run you idiot!" Stephen shouted, Connor stayed still for a moment then bolted.

"Run, Connor!" Aspen shouted.

"Cover it!" Ryan ordered one of the soldiers, who moved into position.

"Oh, no." Claudia said, frowning.

"Shoot it." Claudia ordered, having come to a decision.

"No, wait a minute. There's something about this that doesn't add up. I'm just not entirely sure what it is yet." Cutter said quickly.

"Do it." Claudia ordered, ignoring Cutter.

"No! We should only kill these creatures when there's absolutely no other choice!" Cutter told her.

"Choice? What other choice? In a matter of seconds, Connor's going to be ripped to shreds!" Claudia shrieked at Cutter.

"We can't take that chance." Stephen said.

"Follow your orders, Captain." Claudia told Ryan.

"Yes, ma'am." Ryan answered, and took aim. As he fired on the pteranodon, Cutter pushed him, causing the shot to go wild.

"Nick!" Claudia shouted, and Ryan fired again, but the large flying reptile was already out of range.

"It's out of range." Ryan informed them, and all they could do was stand and watch. Just as the pteranodon was about to reach him, Connor jumped down an incline and it missed, the pteranodon flew away.

"Woo!" Connor's voice echoed up the course.

"I really wish you hadn't done that. God knows how many people you just condemned to death." Claudia told him was looking through his binoculars again, at where Connor was lying on the grass.

"Wait a minute. There's a lizard with him." Cutter told them.

"A lizard?" Claudia asked, not quite believing him.

"Salurosorophus." Cutter identified, looking through the binoculars again.

"Oh, he let Rex escape!" Abby fussed. She turned to Aspen, who winced and started making chopping motions to get her to shut up. It didn't work.

"I'm going to kill your brother!" Cutter and Jenny both looked at Abby.

"What have you done?" Claudia growled.

"You kept him?" Cutter asked her. Abby looked uncomfortable.

"No. Yeah. Yes. He came back. I was just looking after him." She admitted.

"You knew about it?" Cutter asked Aspen.

"Uh... I plead the 5th?" She asked.

"Funny." Cutter said, not sounding the least bit amused.

"What do you think we're doing here? Running some kind of private zoo?" Claudia scolded Abby.

"I'm sorry, guys." Abby said pitifully.

"That's why your flat was so hot." Stephen muttered as Connor jogged toward them, brushing sand off his hat as he went.

"Now, we don't know enough about the creature yet." Cutter told Claudia as she fussed over his interference.

"Lester was right. You people are a menace. What do you think we're doing here, Nick? Playing some kind of game?" Claudia raged.

"Nobody's taking this more seriously than we are." Cutter told her solemnly.

"Look, it's wounded, okay? So it's not going to go far. It needs to roost." Stephen tried to pacify her.

"I hope you're right. For all our sakes." She told him angrily, and walked off with Ryan and his men in tow as Connor approached them.

"She's got a point." Stephen said after she was gone

"Look, I'm not being sentimental. There were good reasons for not killing the creature." Cutter told them.

"And you're sure about that?" Stephen asked.

"No, of course I'm not sure! I've probably just made the biggest mistake of my life! Just a hunch, that's all." Cutter told him snarkily.

"Well, that was a bit of a laugh wasn't it?" Connor joked as he joined them.

"Silly arse." Cutter said scathingly.

"What?" Connor asked as Cutter and Abby both gave him dirty looks and walked away.

"You are so screwed." Aspen told him.

"What?" Connor asked, confused.

"We know about Rex." Stephen told him, before walking off to catch up with Cutter and Abby.

"Hey, look. I just didn't want Rex to be locked up. Poked and prodded by Lester's people. Can I keep him?" Abby begged Cutter.

"You'd better bloody find him first." Cutter told her shortly, and headed with Stephen to where Claudia stood with Ryan.

"Pteranodon hunted from high vantage points. Cliff tops, mountains, anywhere that gave it a good sight of potential prey." Cutter told Ryan.

"We need to be looking at all the highest points within a couple of miles." Stephen added as Ryan received a message on his radio, and pointed to the Laptop.

"Real-time images are coming through now." Ryan told them, and Stephen zoomed in on a satellite image, until the pteranodon could be seen resting on top of a building in the city.

"There it is." Stephen said, pointing to a part of the screen.

"Got it." Cutter said.

"Office building less than a mile away. Should be empty on a Saturday. Let's go!" Ryan told his men.

"We've got to get there first." Cutter told Stephen, as he closed the laptop. He, Claudia and Cutter got into their truck, Ryan and the soldiers climbed into jeeps and set off, Aspen following in her own Jeep Wrangler.

* * *

In the wooded area near the course, Abby and Connor were searching for Rex.

"Rex!" Abby shouted desperately.

"Rexy! Come on mate. Come to Daddy!" Connor begged.

"You don't leave here until you find him." Abby told him sternly.

"Sorry. I can't think how he got out. Abby, look. I am sorry." Connor told her.

"If anything happens to him, I'll… uh! Just find him!"

"I'm finding him, I'm finding." Connor said, scanning the ground for the green lizard.

* * *

Cutter, Claudia and Stephen pulled up outside the office building, Aspen_ right behind them. They had managed to there first._

"Just so you know, if I get a speeding ticket - you guys are paying for it." Aspen told them as she ran up to join them.

"We should wait for Ryan." Claudia told them as Stephen pulled out a_ rather large gun, and they walked inside the building._

"What's that?" Claudia said, wide-eyed as she noticed the gun.

"A tranquillizer gun." Stephen told her.

"No way." Claudia said.

"Take out about 5 of those things up there." Cutter told her as they climbed the stairs.

"I'm not taking any more chances. I want it dead." Claudia told them.

"That's mean." Aspen told her.

"Oh, just humor me." Cutter said grumpily.

"What?" Claudia said.

"Oh don't answer that. Just trust me, please." Cutter said before Claudia could answer.

"Why do you keep doing this to me?" Claudia asked.

"Look, we're in unknown territory here. I don't know. The only thing that I know is killing these creatures without good reason is not the

answer." Cutter told her.

"You've got until Ryan gets here. One chance, one shot." Claudia told him, slowing down to walk with Aspen while Cutter and Stephen walked on ahead.

"Never thought she'd buy that." Stephen said to Cutter.

"No. Neither did I." Cutter replied. The pteranodon was perched on the edge of the roof, and they had to climb up a ladder onto the highest part of the roof. Stephen aimed his gun, but the pteranodon took off before he could shoot.

"Damn it!" Cutter cursed as the pteranodon circled the building.

"Look. We're going to have to find a way to bring her back into range. You see the red crest on the top of her head? Red. That's it." Cutter told Stephen, and turned to Claudia.

"I need your shirt." He told her, not even missing a beat.

"What?" Claudia said.

_"What?"_ Aspen echoed, thankful she had chosen to stay in her blue yoga clothes.

"Your shirt." Cutter repeated.

"Come on. It's magenta." Claudia said, trying to get out of having to give her shirt up.

"It's close enough." Cutter said.

"It's nothing like red." Claudia muttered angrily as Cutter ran across the roof. She started to unbutton her shirt reluctantly and Aspen took off her sweater and passed it over so she'd have something to wear. But Stephen suddenly turned around and handed Claudia his gun.

"Wait. Forgot about this. You owe me." He told her and tugged off his top to reveal a red undershirt which he also removed and handed to Cutter before putting his shirt back on. He took his gun back, and Claudia handed Aspen her sweater. On the other side of the roof, Cutter grabbed a metal pole to which he tied the shirt. Ryan's men started pouring into the bottom of the building.

"You good?" Cutter asked.

"I'm good." Stephen replied. Cutter whistled to get the pteranodon's attention, and started to wave the pole, as Stephen took aim. Claudia backed away.

"Right. In your own time." Cutter said. Stephen's first shot missed, despite the pteranodon being in his gun sights.

"The wind took it." Stephen protested.

"Yup. Try again. Quick as you like there, Stephen." Cutter said. Stephen's second shot also missed, and the soldiers continued making their way through the building.

"Damn thing keeps moving." Stephen complained as the pteranodon flew out of the crosshairs again.

"Yep. That's what they do." Cutter said.

"This time. Come on, fellow." Stephen muttered, trying to line up a shot.

**"**Stephen, shoot it. Stephen, for God's sake, will you shoot it?" Cutter said nervously. Claudia had started to move back in panic. Stephen waited until the pteranodon was almost right on top of them before he shoot and finally hit it. Aspen dodged to the side as the dinosaur rolled across the rooftop, backing Claudia further against the wall.

"You see that?" Cutter shouted happily.

"No need to shout. What are we going to do with it?" Stephen grumbled.

"Take it back to the anomaly site. Send it back." Cutter said, excitedly.

"That's it Cutter. No more favors. From now on we do this my way. I take the decisions." Claudia raged. But it seemed that the pteranodon was not quite as unconscious as they had though. It screeched and flailed, hitting Claudia over the head with its beak. She crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

"Whoops." Cutter said, and chuckled.

"She's going to have a really bad headache when she wakes up." Stephen said.

"Oh - she's going to kill the both of you." Aspen told them.

* * *

**19.12.2012**

**AN: *Yawns* I'm so sleepy, it isn't even funny. I sat at my computer last night, yawning my head off, trying to decide how best to do this chapter, for hours. Eventually I shut off my light and tried to sleep, only for my exhausted brain to start composing, and I came up with a really cool idea for a song - only to wake up this morning and have forgotten most of the lyrics I came up with. -.-"**

**Anyway - I'll probably use it in Season 2 if I can ever remember it. Why? Because, in honor of all the country musicians who've got me through the hours and hours of typing, I've decided Aspen's College courses are set around Music. I was sitting there thinking, "What could be her thing?" and then my tired brain went: "Who cares! Make a musician! Then I can go to sleep!" So I was like :"Alright brain, you win." **

**The song that I'm writing is called House of Cards; the theme is "Baby, I'm a House of Cards, and I'm falling apart."**

**Reminders:**

**(1) The amount of reviews still needed for Connor's mistleote pranks STILL stands at 7, so get going guys. It won't be long until I have to write it. Y'all seriously owe me a review or two - I've been working so hard on this that I think I've actually lost weight. :O**

**(2)If anybody had copies of, or can locate the Primeval scripts for Season 2 onwards, they would be my personal hero's as I still only have up to the first few episodes of Season 2, and I'm STILL having a hard time tracking them down. Please, Please, PLEASE help a girl out here.**

* * *

**Aspen's bio:-**

**Nam****e(s): **Aspen Faith Wilder, "Penny", "Penn".

**Age: **23, (born 1987).

**Height: **5 foot, 7 inches.

**Weight: **Unknown - She'd punch you if you asked.

**Look-a-like:** www dot imdb dot com/name/nm3004687/

**Weapon of Choice: **EMD (origins of weapon are unknown.)

**Affiliations: **Anomaly Response Team, Conner Temple, ARC (Season 2+).

**Abilities: **Aspen is an expert marksmen. (This hints at possible military training, but is unconfirmed.)

**Fears: **Unknown as of yet. (_Will be revelaed in later chapter's, see 11 &12)_

**History: **As far as the official records go. Aspen was orphaned at age 9 on a camping trip, where she saw her parents die. She was lost in the woods after that for a week, and when they finally found her, she wouldn't speak.

After being released from hospital, she went to live with her aunt, who reported that she displayed nervous habits such as being jumpy, sensitive to sound, and would react like a frightened animal when touched unexpectedly. She would have nightmares, seemed to be emotionally numb and could not seem to focus. (These are classic symptoms of PTSD.) Her aunt made her go to therapy sessions, but she never responded.

When she was 12, she disappeared, and then reappeared at the age of 16, saying that she had been with friends, who she would not name. Initial reviews showed her to be healthy, and even completely recovered from her PTSD. All attempts at discovering where she had been were rebuffed or pushed to the side. Eventually, at 19, she moved out and went to college where she met Connor a year later, when he hid her from a rather persistent boy who wanted a date. They formed a sibling bond, and that was that.

* * *

**Much love,**

**Sophia.**


	10. Chapter 10: Roasty Toasty Birdy-Things

**Arguing with Time**

**Sophia Conrad**

**1.5: Roasty Toasty Birdy-Things**

* * *

_"__Dung never lies. And if I'm wrong about that, at least you'll always have a special place in the history books.__"_

―_Stephan Hart_

* * *

In the woods, Connor and Abby were still searching for Rex.

"Rex! Where are you, dude?" Connor shouted as he hurried through the woods.

"Did you think he was going to send up a distress flare or something?" Abby said sarcastically.

"He knows the sound of my voice. I'm thinking he might come running." Connor said.

"He's a lizard. Not a Golden Retriever! This is ridiculous. He could be anywhere." Abby said exasperatedly. Just then, Rex ran across the path in front of them.

"Rex? Rex! Abby!" Connor shouted, and he and Abby ran after Rex.

* * *

Claudia lay unconscious on a bed in the front room of the manor, wearing an oxygen mask. As she started to come to, flashbacks of the pteranodon's crash-landing on the room went through her head. She sat up suddenly and jumped off of the bed, knocking a pouch of blood off a trolley onto the floor in the process. It burst and spattered her shoes with blood. Cutter stood by the window, but moved to stand by her side as she tried to get her bearings.

"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. Nothing's wrong." Cutter soothed her.

"What happened?" Claudia asked, disorientated.

"You took a knock." Cutter told her.

"Where am I?" She asked.

"In a hotel." Cutter told her as the medic from earlier walked in and joined them. He bent down and picked up the burst bag from the puddle of blood on the floor.

"Easy. Let's see how you're doing first. What's your name and how old are you?" The medic asked, as Cutter picked up something out of the medic's bag.

"Claudia Brown and I have no intention of telling you." Claudia replied shortly.

"I'll do some tests at the hospital, but I think it's nothing worse than a mild concussion. Getting low on oxygen. I've got another bottle in the ambulance. I'd better get it just in case." The medic told her, and then walked out of the room, still carrying the burst bag of blood.

"Sit up." Cutter told her. She did as he asked, and he shone a light in her eyes.

"What are you doing?" Claudia asked.

"I have absolutely no idea, but I've seen them do it on ER, so there must be something in it. How are you feeling?" Cutter told her, still shining the penlight in her eyes.

"Okay." She said.

"Any nausea?" Cutter asked.

"No." She told him.

"Any headache?" He asked.

"No." She told him again.

"Does anything feel odd at all?" He asked.

"Just the one thing." Claudia said.

"What?" He asked, concerned.

"I can't see anything." Claudia told him, sounding faint.

* * *

Connor and Abby finally caught up to Rex, who was perched on a log.

"Rex!" Connor hissed.

"Rex!" Abby called.

"What's he looking at?" Connor asked, as Rex jumped off the log and ran behind it as if he was trying to hide. Behind Abby and Connor a tree was full of dark shapes. Dark, flapping, squawking shapes. Abby and Connor slowly turned around. The tree was full of small pterosaurs, one of them sniffed something, and then all of them flew out of the tree.

"Get down!" Connor shouted, and he and Abby crouched down as the pterosaurs flew past them, one stealing Connor's hat on the way. Abby and Connor hadn't moved from their crouched positions.

"Abby, are we alive?" Connor asked.

"We're alive." Abby answered.

"That's a good thing." Connor said faintly.

* * *

Aspen stood with Stephen and Ryan as they watched a set of soldiers guard the unconscious pteranodon that was wrapped in a set of sheets and strapped to the back of a trailer.

"I wouldn't get too close if I were you. That thing could come around at any time." Ryan warned him.

"She's going to be out for hours yet." Stephen told him, and there was a rumbling noise as the pteranodon's bowels let loose. The soldiers wrinkled their noses.

"Oh, nice." Ryan's tone betrayed him.

"You have no idea how revealing dung can be. You can learn a lot from it. It's exciting stuff." Stephen told him, dabbing a sample on his tongue. The soldiers made their disgust known as he did so.

"That's just not right." Ryan said as he watched.

"I hope you weren't planning on kissing any girls after that." Aspen said, looking rather disgusted.

"Well, if you're volunteering..." Stephen said and started toward her, but stopped when she held up her EMD and pointed it at him.

"Try it, and I'll zap you so hard, that your hair will be on end for a week." She growled. Stephen held his hands up in surrender, and Ryan's men laughed. Mighty Hunter indeed.

* * *

"Temporary blindness is a symptom of mild concussion. You're going to be fine." Cutter told her, and patted her shoulder.

"Right." Claudia said, trying to get a grasp on the situation.

"Trust me. I'm a doctor. Well, I'm a professor, but it's nearly the same thing. Do you see anything at all?" Cutter said, poking around the room.

"Um … A little. It's getting better." She said unsteadily.

"See? It'll be back in no time." Cutter told her, as his mobile rang. He answered it.

"Stephen?" Cutter asked.

"Listen, you know that hunch of yours? You were right. Old leather face didn't kill the golfer. The beak, it's all wrong. The dung is the clincher." Stephen told him, and Cutter could hear laughter in the background.

"Yeah, let me guess, no human remains." Cutter asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, just a few small reptiles and some fish bones. That's it." Stephen told him.

"Exactly what I though. It wasn't Connor it was after, it was Rex." Cutter said.

"Yeah." Stephen confirmed, and Cutter's phone beeped.

"Stephen, listen, I'm going to have to call you back. My phone's out of juice." Cutter told him.

"Okay." Stephen said,

"Did you catch any of that?" Cutter asked Claudia as he closed the dying phone.

"The pteranodon is innocent. What do you want me to do? Pay compensation? You have to admit it, you made a lucky guess." Claudia answered wryly.

"No you're missing my point. If the pteranodon didn't kill the golfer, then what did?" Cutter asked, worried. Suddenly the sound of screams came from outside. It was the medic.

"What was that?" Claudia asked, spinning around in an attempt to see, momentarily forgetting that she was blind.

"I don't know. Look, give me your phone." Cutter said, holding his hand out.

"It's in my bag. In the car." Claudia told him, sounding close to tears as Cutter closed the patio doors, and started shutting the other doors that lead to other rooms.

"All right. I have to get to a phone." Cutter said, looking around the room.

"Nick, don't leave me!" Claudia said, panicking.

"It's okay. I'm still here. Just keep calm. All we have to do is keep all the windows and all the doors shut. And we'll be fine. There'll be nothing to worry about. And we'll be just fine." Cutter did his best to keep her calm, and bolted toward the main door of the house. It was still open. He closed them as the flock of pterosaurs circled above the house.

"Okay. Listen, there has to be a phone around here somewhere. Now, you're going to be okay, because nothing can get in here. It's going to be okay." Cutter told her, and ran upstairs looking for a phone. He found one, but outside the flock had somehow cut the wires. Downstairs, the pterosaurs made shadows across the room as they flew in front of the window.

"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. No, it's not. No, it's not." Claudia started to panic, and moved across the room to double check that the patio doors were shut. One of the pterosaurs slammed into the pane of glass directly in front of her face, and in her panic Claudia backed up a little too fast and slipped in the puddle of blood on the floor. There was another thud as another pterosaur slammed into the same pane, and the glass shattered. Cutter heard the noise and ran back downstairs to find Claudia struggling to get to her feet. He pulled her up as the first pterosaur flew into the room.

"It's okay. Its okay, it's okay. All right. Go, go, go." Cutter led Claudia out of the room and shut the door, just in time.

"Go! Keep going! Keep going!" Cutter told her as he led her through the manor.

"They just went crazy. I slipped in the blood and then…" Claudia told him hysterically.

"It's the blood, the can smell the blood." Cutter realized.

"Like piranhas. Oh, God. Have I got much on me?" Claudia gasped.

"Um, a little bit, yeah. About the same as me. Give me your top." He told her.

"It's getting to be a little bit of a habit." She told him, laughing nervously.

"What? Asking for your clothes or getting us attacked?

"Both." She told him, smiling as they both removed their top layers. Outside, the pterosaur flock tapped against the skylight above them.

"Oh, God." Cutter said as he looked up. He pulled Claudia out of the way just in time as the skylight shattered and glass rained down on the spot they had been standing in only moments before. The flock followed. Cutter pulled Claudia out of the room and shut the door firmly behind them. He guided her to a chair, sat her down and went to check the windows.

"There's got to be a phone around here somewhere. Okay, I think that there's one in the ambulance." Cutter told her.

"You're going to go and get it?" Claudia asked.

"Yeah. You're going to be safe here." Cutter reassured her.

"What about you?" Claudia said.

"You know, I think I can make it." Cutter said, and stood back as if contemplating something, before he leaned in and kissed her.

"I'll be back in a minute." He told her, and ran out of the room. He went through the gardens, and ran faster as part of the swarm split off to chase him. He raced toward the ambulance, where the medic's body still lay outside of it. Jumping inside the vehicle, he slammed the doors shut behind him. He scrambled around the ambulance looking for a phone. He found it, and dialed Ryan's number from memory.

"Ryan! Ryan, its Nick Cutter! We're being attacked by a swarm of pterosaurs. Claudia's trapped in the hotel." Cutter shouted down the phone.

"Just sit tight." Ryan told him.

"Yeah, I'll sit tight. Yeah. Hurry up!" Cutter snapped at Ryan, and hung up the phone. He sat there for a moment, and then started going through the ambulance compartments, looking for something to use as a weapon.

Back in the hotel, Claudia was sitting on the sofa where Cutter had left her. Squawking and banging noises echoed down the chimney. A stream of coal dust and ash fell into the fireplace. The squawking got louder as Claudia got to her feet, and backed away. She moved to the back of the room, and managed to locate a rack of golf clubs. She grabbed one as a pterosaur flew down the chimney, and into the room.

"Three iron." She identified. As the pterosaur flapped around the room, her eyesight is getting better. She managed to hit the pterosaur with the golf club as it flew towards her; it went zooming back across the room, and crashed into the wall.

"Hole in one." Claudia cheered as a lot more pterosaurs flew down the chimney. Claudia batted the pterosaurs away with the golf club, but was knocked to the floor. Stubbornly, she got to her feet again, and started swinging the club again. The door behind her opened, and Helen Cutter came in and pulled her back from behind.

"Who's that?" Claudia yelped.

"Helen Cutter." Helen told her, already backing them both out of the room.

"Helen, what the hell are you doing here?" Claudia asked, stunned.

"You really want to discuss that right now?" Helen said tersely.

"Maybe later." Claudia agreed. As more pterosaurs came down the chimney, the two women left the room and closed the door behind them. Helen drew Claudia down a corridor.

"Can you see anything at all?" She asked Claudia.

"I can manage." Claudia said stubbornly.

"Right, I'll leave you on your own, then." Helen said jokingly, and moved away.

"Helen!" Claudia yelped. As Helen had moved away, the door of the room that they were in had started to open, allowing the pterosaurs go through it.

"Only kidding." Helen said, and ran back to grab Claudia's hand. She pulled her down the hallway and into the kitchen, closing the door after them

"Here. Get in there." The pterosaurs slammed against the door that Helen had shut only moments before.

"You're going to have to trust me. It's either that or a radical makeover from our friends back there." Helen told Claudia solemnly.

"Tough call. Maybe just this once." Claudia said, laughing nervously.

"Right. See this door. Go and stand by it. When I say so, go out and close it behind you." Helen led her through a second door, and put Claudia's hand on the handle.

"What are you going to be doing?" Claudia asked her, hearing Helen run around the room.

"Cooking." Helen told her, and there was a hissing as Helen turned on all the gas ovens. "Helen!" Claudia shouted.

"Just keep calm, Claudia." Helen told her as she put a metal jug in a microwave.

"Easy for you to say." Claudia grumbled as Helen opened the door and let the pterosaurs in.

"Now!" Helen shouted, and Claudia opened the door, and closed it behind her. Helen started the microwave and then left the room. The spark caused by putting the metal jug in the microwave ignited the gas in the room, causing a huge explosion, and killing all the pterosaurs in the kitchen. Outside, Cutter ducked as the fireball was followed by bits of debris.

"Claudia Brown." Cutter said quietly as Claudia walked up behind him, covered in soot.

"You scared the life out of me. You all right?" Cutter told her as he turned.

"I'm fine. Helen saved me." She told him, moving to stand next to him. Cutter looked back toward the remains of the kitchen.

"Where is she?" He asked, and Claudia shrugged.

"I don't know." She told him honestly.

"Is she still in there?" Cutter asked, looking like he was contemplating going after her.

"She's gone. Like a ghost." Claudia told him.

"Yeah, no surprises there." Cutter snorted as Ryan and his men arrived, running up behind them. Ryan had a double take at the still burning building and the state Cutter and Claudia were in, and looked at Cutter's gas canister.

"What? Yeah, it was me. It was me with a Zippo and a bottle of flammable gas." Cutter told him sarcastically, following Ryan's gaze.

* * *

Just outside of the woods, Connor stood staring at a pond. He turned as Abby walked past him.

"All turned put pretty well in the end." He said, trying to grin.

"No thanks to you." She told him irritated.

"Abby, I'm really sorry. I know I should have been more careful with Rex." Connor said, doing his best to apologize. Abby relented.

"Alright then, but I'm still telling Aspen that she has free reign over your punishment." She told him. Connor nodded.

"Alright then. Friends?" He asked tentatively.

"Friends." She agreed, smiling.

"You're actually not that bad, you know, when you're not getting my pet's eaten by giant prehistoric birds." She told him, and turned to walk away. Connor smiled, and then turned to face her.

"You weren't serious about that, were you? It's a bit harsh." Connor asked, referring to her earlier decision.

"Yes." Abby told him firmly.

"Harsh, but more than reasonable." Connor agreed squeakily.

"I know." Abby told him, and walked off smiling. Connor followed.

* * *

They stood under the anomaly, marveling at it once more.

"Guys, you'd better be quick. I don't think the anomaly's going to hold much longer?" Connor told them, looking at his compass. Claudia's phone rang, she checked the caller ID, and then put it back in her pocket.

"Lester. What can I say? The battery was down and I just didn't get to the call in time." Claudia told Cutter, and smiled wryly.

"You saying Lester doesn't know about this?" Cutter asked her.

"Wouldn't be happy if he did." Claudia told him.

"I thought you weren't going to take sides." Cutter reminded her, confused.

"It's a one-off. Against my better judgment." Claudia told him as Stephen came up behind them and handed Cutter a big red flag, before going back to where the pteranodon lay on the trailer.

"And it better work." Claudia told him.

"Yep." Cutter told her.

"It's okay, baby. You'll be home soon." Abby soothed the large reptile as it began to wake up. Cutter climbed into the cherrypicker with his big red flag in hand.

"So, you're absolutely confident that this creature doesn't eat mammals?" Cutter asked Stephen as the metal cage left the ground.

"Dung never lies. And if I'm wrong about that, at least you'll always have a special place in the history books." Stephen told him, and smirked.

"I always wanted to be famous. Let's do it." Cutter said and laughed. On the ground Connor, Stephen and Ryan released the ropes holding the pteranodon down. Together, Connor and Stephen started to lift the sheet that lay over it.

"Okay, soldier boy." Stephen said.

"All right, we're ready. Let her go!" Cutter shouted, and the sheet was pulled off. The pteranodon got up groggily, and flapped it wings a few times experimentally, before taking off... In the wrong direction, completely missing Cutter and his flag.

"Turn!" Cutter shouted at the pteranodon.

"Turn around!" Stephen shouted.

"Over here!" Aspen yelled.

"Over here!" Connor echoed.

"Come back!" Abby shouted.

"Come back!" Cutter yelled.

"Hey! Come on! Over here!" Aspen encouraged.

"This way! Over here!" Connor egged it on.

"Hey! Yeah! This way!" Abby shouted. Finally, the pteranodon banked, and turned back and flew towards Cutter.

"Okay, come on. Come on." Cutter muttered as ha waved the flag back and forth.

"Come here!" Abby shouted once more.

"It's beautiful." Claudia whispered. They ducked as the pteranodon swooped overhead. It flew past Cutter and into the anomaly, just before it closed. Everyone cheered, and Stephen threw Connor's hat in victory before Abby jumped on him. Connor pulled Aspen into a hug, and she reached up to ruffle his hair.

"Safe journey." Cutter said, looking at where the large reptile had vanished.

* * *

**20.12.2012**

**AN: Right, that was a fun chapter to write... well, no, not really. For some reason I never really liked that episode very much. Helen saving the day? I'm sure you can see why. I have an evil plan for Helen though - *laughs manically*. Well, it's not _that _bad. She's just the kind of person that I love to hate - Why? Because I have serious issues with the idea of lying, and really dislike cheaters. It just rubs me the wrong way, that's all.**

**Lots of hugs and virtual cookies for Caz, who has been so patient with my ranting during the day, and Rubytronix, who brightens up my day evrry time she reviews. I only noticed a few days back that she had written some of my favourite Primeval fics, so it made her reviews all the more special. XD**

**Reminders:**

**(1) The amount of reviews still needed for Connor's mistleote pranks stands at 5, (I'm in a good mood) so get going guys. It won't be long until I have to write it. Y'all seriously owe me a review or two - I've been working so hard on this that I think I've actually lost weight. :O**

**(2)If anybody had copies of, or can locate the Primeval scripts for Season 2 onwards, they would be my personal hero's as I still only have up to the first few episodes of Season 2, and I'm STILL having a hard time tracking them down. Please, Please, PLEASE help a girl out here.**

* * *

**Aspen's bio:-**

**Nam****e(s): **Aspen Faith Wilder, "Penny", "Penn".

**Age: **23, (born 1987).

**Height: **5 foot, 7 inches.

**Weight: **Unknown - She'd punch you if you asked.

**Look-a-like:** www dot imdb dot com/name/nm3004687/

**Weapon of Choice: **EMD (origins of weapon are unknown.)

**Affiliations: **Anomaly Response Team, Conner Temple, ARC (Season 2+).

**Abilities: **Aspen is an expert marksmen. (This hints at possible military training, but is unconfirmed.)

**Fears: **Unknown as of yet. (_Will be revelaed in later chapter's, see 11 &12)_

**History: **As far as the official records go. Aspen was orphaned at age 9 on a camping trip, where she saw her parents die. She was lost in the woods after that for a week, and when they finally found her, she wouldn't speak.

After being released from hospital, she went to live with her aunt, who reported that she displayed nervous habits such as being jumpy, sensitive to sound, and would react like a frightened animal when touched unexpectedly. She would have nightmares, seemed to be emotionally numb and could not seem to focus. (These are classic symptoms of PTSD.) Her aunt made her go to therapy sessions, but she never responded.

When she was 12, she disappeared, and then reappeared at the age of 16, saying that she had been with friends, who she would not name. Initial reviews showed her to be healthy, and even completely recovered from her PTSD. All attempts at discovering where she had been were rebuffed or pushed to the side. Eventually, at 19, she moved out and went to college where she met Connor a year later, when he hid her from a rather persistent boy who wanted a date. They formed a sibling bond, and that was that.

* * *

**Much love,**

**Sophia.**


	11. Chapter 11: The Future's Threat

**Arguing with Time**

**Sophia Conrad**

**1.6: The Future's Threat**

* * *

_"__...the future? Are you saying we're being attacked by a __creature from the future__?__"_

―_Nick Cutter_

* * *

In his office, Cutter stood poised to swing. He was playing golf using a coffee mug and a leg bone for a golf club.

"Shot." Claudia's voice came from behind him and Cutter jumped.

"Claudia Brown." He said.

"Having fun?" Claudia asked.

"Yes. Would you like to sit down?" Cutter said, and Claudia walked down the steps into his office, sitting down on the lower steps.

"I've been thinking about Helen." She told him.

"Ah. Okay." Cutter said, his voiced sounded strained.

"She saved my life. It was much less complicated when she was just the enemy." She told him.

"Yeah. I gave up trying to predict Helen's behavior when she swapped our marriage for a package tour in the Permian era." Cutter said wryly.

"Maybe it was just a cry for help." Claudia suggested jokingly.

"Counseling would have been simpler." Cutter told her, smiling.

"Nick Cutter talking about his feelings? I don't think so." Claudia sucked in a breath, but she wore a smile.

"What? Try me. Ask me anything, anything you like." Cutter dared her.

**"**Do you still love her?" Claudia asked, genuinely curious.

"Ask me another one." Cutter said, missing his shot.

"Ooh, Coward." Claudia hissed, teasing him.

"Was there any … I mean, was there any purpose to your visit? Or is my love life the only item on the agenda?" Cutter asked, feeling uncomfortable.

"If we're going to defend ourselves more effectively, then we've got to do something more than just react. We've got to discover why these anomalies are opening, and then predict when the next one will appear." Claudia said, changing the subject.

"Well, you know, it may be possible to do that." Cutter said absently.

"Are you going to tell me how?" Claudia asked.

"I've got ideas, but I don't have any proof. I need more time." Cutter said.

"Fine. How does Monday morning sound?" Claudia asked as Cutter went back to playing golf. He missed, and Claudia turned away pinching the bridge of her nose.

"You're spoiling me now. Are you okay?" Cutter said, turning to notice what she was doing.

"Um, I haven't been sleeping well. Bad dreams." She told him as she started to go back up the stairs, before stopping and turning back.

"By the way, when those things were attacking us, you kissed me. On the lips." She said.

"I know." Cutter answered.

"You do know sexual harassment is a serious disciplinary offence in the civil service?" She told him, but she was wearing a smile on her face as she left. After she was gone, Cutter chuckled and shook his head.

* * *

At the anomaly site in the Forest of Dean, the anomaly from before was still soldier guarding it, moved away after hearing a noise. He went to the security fence, and discovered a large hole in it where the bars had been broken and twisted.

"This is Charlie 1, security breach at section 15." He radioed in, not noticing that he was being stalked. Not long after, Cutter and Stephen had arrived with Captain Ryan. They studied the mangled fence closely.

"No trail, no footprints, nothing." Stephen said, looking at the surrounding area.

"Are you sure you didn't miss anything?" Cutter asked him.

"If there's anything out there, we'd have found it by now." Stephen told them.

"Must have gone back." Ryan said and signaled his men to leave.

* * *

Aspen sat in Abby's flat, watching as Abby attempted to give Connor flirting lessons. It wasn't going so well.

"Okay. I'm a girl in a bar. Tell me I look nice." Abby told him, leaning back in her chair.

"You look nice." Connor said, looking uncomfortable.

"Make it more personal." Abby whispered.

"I personally feel you look nice." Connor tried again, ignoring Aspen's laughter.

"The complement, be more specific." Abby whispered again.

"Well, you've got lovely legs, and fantastic…" Connor said, and Abby cut him off.

"Yeah, not that specific. Um, small talk. Flirty. Just not too flirty. Yeah?" She tried, and Connor looked stumped for a moment before gathering his thoughts.

"I've seen you here before, haven't I?" Connor tried, this time successful.

"Oh, that's good." Abby said.

"Oh, look, your glass is empty. Let me get you another one." Connor said with a smile.

"I'll have a mojito, please." Abby told him.

"Two mojitos coming up. Barman." Connor said as he clicked his fingers at Rex, who was sitting on the sofa nearby. He was really getting into it.

"Who do you think would win in a fight between Wolverine and Spider-man?" Connor said, and ruined the winning streak he had been on.

"I said flirty, not nerdy." Abby said, sighing.

"That's entry level comic book, Abby. It's light, it's fun." He protested.

"But girls don't talk comic books! If you want to be more successful with women, you've got to learn to compromise a bit. Find out what they like." Abby told him.

"And pretend I'm interested. Until they want to snog me. No, I get it. But Abby, you know, to be honest, I think I can talk to women. I talk to you, don't I?" Connor said.

"We're pals." Abby agreed.

"Yeah, I know. You can…" Connor said, trailing off.

"Come here." Abby said, and fixed his tie.

"You can fancy somebody who's a pal, can't you? The two conditions are not mutually exclusive." Connor said, before he lost his nerve. Abby however wasn't listening. Her phone beeped as Connor leant in to try and kiss her, pulling back when she leant in to pick up her phone and read the text.

"It's the zoo, something's up. I've got to go." Abby said, as she grabbed her coat and went out.

"Not a word." Connor said to a smirking Aspen.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." She said innocently, and Connor groaned as they followed Abby out of the door. Connor climbed in with Abby, as Aspen drove off in the other direction to find Cutter.

* * *

Stephen walked out of the university, not noticing that he was being followed by Helen. He stopped suddenly and then turned, but she had already hidden. He turned back around only to come face-to-face with her.

"In most eras of the world's history, you'd be dead by now." Helen told him.

"Helen. What the hell are you doing here?" Stephen asked, not sure whether to be happy or furious.

"All this urban living has made human beings such lazy animals. Second-rate hearing, no sense of smell, no worthwhile instincts." She continued, ignoring his words.

"Well, man has no predators; we have nothing to be afraid of except each other." Stephen pointed out.

"Well, that used to be the case, but times are changing, aren't they, Stephen?" Helen said, walking closer.

"What do you want?" Stephen asked warily.

"A cold beer would be nice." She said, and they walked through campus toward the university cafe.

"Why don't you just tell me what you want?" Stephen said, impatient.

"A meeting. With Nick and Lester. Tomorrow morning at 11. Here." She handed him a piece of paper.

"No armed thugs, no ambushes. They'll want to hear what I've got to say." Helen said confidently.

"They don't trust you." He told her.

"I don't trust them, either. But this is serious." She told him, and pulled out a newspaper and handed it to him.

"Three people have disappeared in the last 48 hours. I know what happened to them." She told him, standing up.

"Creature. What kind?" Stephen asked, now standing too.

"It's good to see you again, Stephen. You know, you were always one of my better students. Not the very brightest maybe, but always full of idealism and integrity." She said, and pulled on her backpack, before leaning in to kiss him.

"I miss that." She said.

"Thank you. I'm touched." Stephen said voice flat.

"So does Cutter know that you've been making out with his no-so-dead-after-all wife, or is this just a really big misunderstanding?" Aspen's voice came from behind them. Stephen turned to see Aspen standing about 5 feet away, with her hands on her hips, attempting to burn a hole through Helen with her stare. Stephen opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"Don't bother," Aspen told him sharply. "I won't tell him, that's your job, but I honestly thought you were smarter than this. You disappoint me." She said, and turned to leave.

"What does that mean?" Stephen asked, almost growling, Aspen looked at him over her shoulder.

"I just thought that maybe you'd realize that a relationship with a woman who cheated on her husband isn't likely to end well. She'll throw you away like yesterday's trash once she's bored of you." She said, and Stephen glared at her.

"Actually, wait. She's already done that, hasn't she?" She spat venomously, and left.

* * *

Abby lead Connor into the Lion's enclosure, where other zookeepers were gathered around the hole in the roof.

"See, at first we thought the lions had been fighting, but none of them are wounded. Then we realized we'd lost one." Abby told Connor as they walked through the enclosure.

"You put it down somewhere, forgot where you left it. Happens all the time." Connor joked, trying to cheer her up. He tapped Abby on the arm and pointed down at a leaf that was covered in blood.

"Looks like something got wounded." He said, and crouched down to take a sample, ignoring the sound of the other zookeepers arguing over the hole in the roof.

"Could it be a creature attack?" Abby asked, curious.

"I don't know. You need…" Connor trailed off, and they both paused as a zookeeper walked past.

"There's no other proof, is there? All you've got is a missing lion. Maybe he just ran away to join the circus." Connor said, trying to make light of the situation.

"Oh, whatever." Abby said, frustrated, and Connor wisely retreated with the excuse of taking the sample to the lab, just in case.

* * *

Lester walked into the office, followed by Claudia, Cutter and Stephen. Abby and Connor stood in another room, talking.

"Stephen was acting really strange this morning. Something weird is going on." Abby told Connor.

"What's new? Oh, I never said. The blood analysis came back from the lab. Most of it was from a lion, but some of it was from a bat." Connor answered her.

"Bats get everywhere." Abby dismissed the results.

"Yeah, but it was some really weird DNA. They said they'd never seen anything like it before." Connor told her.

"What does that mean then?" Abby asked, looking at him.

"I don't know. Yet. You expecting a call?" Connor said.

"My boss. No one's seen him since yesterday. They found his stuff, but there's no sign of him. He just vanished." She told him.

"Better get back to the zoo." She said. In the other room Lester was drilling Cutter for details.

"Are you sure you don't already know what this is about?" Lester demanded.

"Sorry, what does that mean?" Cutter asked.

"She's your wife, you join the dots." Lester snapped at him.

"Helen did save my life, so we should give her some credit for that. And if she does know something about the disappearances…" Claudia pointed out.

"That's a police matter. There's no evidence of creature involvement." Lester told them.

"Yet." Stephen said.

"Okay, fine. We'll do it her way. But if this turns out to be another of her manipulative schemes, the deal's off and she goes straight back on the wanted list." Lester told them, his tone booking no excuses.

The next day Helen approached Lester, Claudia, Cutter and Stephen, as they stood on a bridge that stretched over a large pond.

"You have a serious creature incursion. A highly evolved ambush predator. Intelligent, adaptable and ruthless." Helen said as she joined them.

"If there was a creature on the loose, we'd know about it." Claudia told her.

"At least 3 people have disappeared in the last few days." Helen reminded them.

"Missing." Lester said curtly.

"Killed. The creature has a lair somewhere nearby. It's taken them for food." Helen said.

"Now how do you know that?" Cutter asked, not believing her.

"Because it nearly got me, too." She told them. Four heads turned to stare at her.

"What is it?" Stephen asked her.

"It has no name." She said.

"Then which era is it from?" Cutter asked.

"It doesn't come from any era. At least, not one that can be identified yet." Helen said.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand." Cutter told her.

"Yes you do, Nick. You knew it had to happen one day. You've known it ever since you first stepped into the past." Helen said.

"The future? Are you saying we're being attacked by a creature from the future?" Cutter asked, surprised.

"I've seen a lot of amazing creatures, but nothing like this one. It has human levels of intelligence, and an almost supernatural ability to stalk its prey. It could be right here now watching us and we'd never know." Helen told them, looking around the area.

"If it's so clever, how did you see it?" Claudia asked disbelieving.

"I discovered it in the Permian, just after a kill. It was feeding and its defenses were down." Helen told them.

"What does it look like?" Cutter wanted to know.

"Like a great ape, but bigger, faster. And a lot more agile." Helen told him.

"Hold on. What makes you so certain that it's not some lost species that's just disappeared from the evolutionary record?" Cutter said, not believing her.

"No Nick. It's not like any creature from the Permian, or any other prehistoric era. The only possible explanation is that it strayed through a future anomaly into the Permian era, and then on into ours." Helen told him.

"You know, I'm really beginning to regret not staying in management consultancy. So now it's the future as well. And apparently we can't do a damn thing about it." Lester said sarkily.

"How did it get here?" Claudia wanted to know.

"I have no idea. It was only when I got back I found out it was on the loose. Obviously my first thought was to do as much as I could to help." Helen told them innocently. Cutter's eyes narrowed.

"How public spirited of you. Where can we contact you?" Lester said sarcastically.

"At my house. Of course." Helen said, as if there should have been no question. Later, Helen sat in the living room and took off her boots. Cutter watched her from where he was perched by the piano.

"You could have redecorated." Helen said as she looked around.

"I like it. Anyway, are you going to tell me why you were lying?"

"No idea what you're talking about." Helen told him. Cutter didn't fall for it.

"Well, you know, the others buy that line about you just wanting to help, but I've known you for longer than they have." Cutter reminded her.

"Look, everything I said about the Permian was true. I discovered the creature and made my observations. But I got too fascinated, got too close. It sensed I was watching." She told him.

"So you became the prey." Cutter finished.

"Yeah, I only just got away. Problem was, my escape route led me back here." Helen told him.

"And it followed you. So this is your fault." Cutter said angrily.

"I could have walked away. But I didn't. I stayed to help. I'm still human, Nick, I … I do care what happens. Believe it or not I do care about you." Helen told him.

* * *

Stephen and Connor were in Cutter's office; Stephen was tidying, as Connor spun around on Cutter's chair, poking at the objects that lay on Cutter's desk.

"What, and that's all she said?" Connor asked, still spinning.

"That's it." Stephen said as he continued picking up papers.

"What, nothing else? No details at all?" Connor persisted, picking up something from Cutter's desk.

"Why? Put it down." Stephen said as he turned to see what Connor was playing with. Connor did as he was told.

"It's just, I found some bat blood at the zoo yesterday." Connor told him.

"So?" Stephen asked.

"Well, this bat blood had really, really screwed up DNA. I mean, you know, it's probably nothing, but one of the lions went missing yesterday, and now Abby's boss, he's just disappeared as well." Connor continued.

"Where's Abby?" Stephen asked, frowning.

"She said she was working late." Connor told him.

"Meet me at the zoo, with as much back up as possible." Stephen told him as he hurried out of the office.

* * *

Abby walked through the underground tunnel that went past the sea lion enclosure, watching the sea lions as they swam around. She stepped backwards and bumped into Stephen.

"Don't creep up on me like that!" Abby hissed at him.

"I wasn't creeping. I was walking, normally. You all right?" Stephen said, looking her over.

"Why shouldn't I be?" Abby asked.

"There might be a creature here. We think it killed the lion and maybe your boss. The others are on the way." Stephen told her.

"You came on your own, just because you were worried about me?" Abby asked, curious.

"Well, you and the, uh, sea lions. I'd hate it if anything happened to them." Stephen said, shifting his weight. Suddenly, he grabbed Abby and pushed her against the wall, looking around carefully.

"What're you doing?" Abby asked. Stephen covered her mouth and put his finger to his lips.

"There's something down here." He told her quietly. The creature dropped down in the entrance of the walkway. It started to move toward Stephen and Abby, but was distracted by the sea lions behind the glass. It bolted when a group of soldiers came down the walkway, led by Ryan. Stephen let out a sigh of relief.

* * *

In the camel enclosure, Helen was sitting on a bench. Claudia walked in, talking to a soldier.

"We've really got to try and contain it. We can't afford to lose anybody…" She told him.

"If you want to find its lair, you're going to need dogs." Helen cut in.

"Excuse me." Claudia told the soldier who left as Helen approached them.

"You saved my life. Thank you. Although, now I come to think of it. You did leave it rather late." Claudia said.

"Well, you know. You were doing so well without me. It was only when Nick ran off I thought I should intervene." Helen told her.

"He didn't run off. He went to get help. He did everything he could to protect me." Claudia told her angrily.

"He's attracted to you, isn't he?" Helen was fishing for answers.

"I have no idea." Claudia answered honestly.

"It's obvious you like him." Helen prodded.

"It's really none of your business." Claudia told her sharply.

"He's my husband." Helen said, the smile that had been on her face before was gone.

"You left him. Remember?" Claudia told her.

"You know, I can see why he's interested. You're his type, Claudia. Strong, independent, reasonably intelligent." Helen said, picking at her.

"Shall we stick to the point? So, what can you tell us about this creature?" Claudia shifted the conversation to another subject.

"It's fast. Incredibly fast. And it can camouflage itself in almost any environment. To survive in the Permian it's had to be highly adaptable, which is bad for us. Who knows? Maybe that's how humanity meets its end, by becoming a food source for a more successful species." Helen told her.

* * *

Cutter walked toward the woods, flanked by Connor and Stephen. Behind them, Ryan and his men followed with dogs.

"The creature's lair must be somewhere very close." Cutter told them as they trod through the forest.

"What happens when we find this thing?" Ryan asked.

"We kill it." Cutter said shortly.

"I thought we only killed these creatures in self-defense." Ryan reluctantly reminded him.

"This one's too dangerous. And if we kill it, we can't affect the past or present." Cutter said.

"Shoot to kill, that makes a refreshing change, I was beginning to feel like a social worker." Ryan stated, and smiled. They entered through the treeline, and walked over a small rise into an area strewn with fallen trees. Suddenly, the dogs began to bark. Stephen crouched down to get a closer look at a broken branch. One of the Special Forces men disappeared with a yelp, dragged behind a tree, and the other soldier's pointed their guns in that direction. Gunshots were fired, and there was the sound of branches cracking, as if under a large amount of weight.

"There's nothing. Make sure you verify your target." Ryan instructed his men.

"Look up!" Cutter shouted, and they did so. The creature was jumping from branch to branch. It leapt at Nick, and missed when he ducked. It ran off when they opened fire on it.

"What the hell was that?" Stephen asked, not quite believing what he'd just seen.

"We need a bigger gun." Cutter said, his voice hollow.

* * *

**20.12.2012**

**AN: If you were in Aspen's position, what would you do? Tell Cutter, or wait for Stephen to? Cutter had the right to know, but Stephen should have been the one to tell him in my opinion. He should have pushed Helen away, but didn't. Either way, I'm not sure it's going to end well. **

**As for why Aspen disappears in the second half of the chapter, it's because she's starting to view Cutter as a substitute father, and is furious with Stephen for betraying him with Helen. Simply put, she doesn't feel like she can keep quiet at the moment, and needs some space. She'll be back next chapter, and then the shit's going to hit the fan when her past starts to make a reappearance and she runs into a familiar face.  
**

**Reminders:**

**(1) The amount of reviews still needed for Connor's mistletoe pranks stands at 5, (I'm in a good mood) so get going guys. It won't be long until I have to write it. Y'all seriously owe me a review or two - I've been working so hard on this that I think I've actually lost weight. :O**

**(2)If anybody had copies of, or can locate the Primeval scripts for Season 2 onwards, they would be my personal hero's as I still only have up to the first few episodes of Season 2, and I'm STILL having a hard time tracking them down. Please, Please, PLEASE help a girl out here.**

* * *

**Aspen's bio:-**

**Nam****e(s): **Aspen Faith Wilder, "Penny", "Penn".

**Age: **23, (born 1987).

**Height: **5 foot, 7 inches.

**Weight: **Unknown - She'd punch you if you asked.

**Look-a-like:** www dot imdb dot com/name/nm3004687/

**Weapon of Choice: **EMD (origins of weapon are unknown.)

**Affiliations: **Anomaly Response Team, Conner Temple, ARC (Season 2+).

**Abilities: **Aspen is an expert marksmen. (This hints at possible military training, but is unconfirmed.)

**Fears: **Unknown as of yet. (_Will be revealed in later chapter's, see 11 &12)_

**History: **As far as the official records go. Aspen was orphaned at age 9 on a camping trip, where she saw her parents die. She was lost in the woods after that for a week, and when they finally found her, she wouldn't speak.

After being released from hospital, she went to live with her aunt, who reported that she displayed nervous habits such as being jumpy, sensitive to sound, and would react like a frightened animal when touched unexpectedly. She would have nightmares, seemed to be emotionally numb and could not seem to focus. (These are classic symptoms of PTSD.) Her aunt made her go to therapy sessions, but she never responded.

When she was 12, she disappeared, and then reappeared at the age of 16, saying that she had been with friends, who she would not name. Initial reviews showed her to be healthy, and even completely recovered from her PTSD. All attempts at discovering where she had been were rebuffed or pushed to the side. Eventually, at 19, she moved out and went to college where she met Connor a year later, when he hid her from a rather persistent boy who wanted a date. They formed a sibling bond, and that was that.

* * *

**Much love,**

**Sophia.**


	12. Chapter 12: Sonar Surprise

**Arguing with Time**

**Sophia Conrad**

**1.6: Sonar Surprise**

* * *

_"__Sorry, my finger must have slipped. Hope she wasn't about to say anything important__!"_

―_Aspen Wilder_

* * *

"It was one step ahead of us all the time. It knew what we were going to do before we even did it." Cutter said as Helen joined them, sitting down on a log to eat an apple as they talked.

"I warned you it was smart." Helen told them smugly.

"It would be more helpful if you could tell us how to catch it." Cutter told her, his tone clearly indicating that he wanted her to shut up.

"What we need is something that gives us an edge. Some weakness in its defenses. Otherwise it's just going to pick us off, one by one." Stephen said.

"Dogs. The dogs went crazy before it attacked. What'd make them go off like that?" Connor pointed out.

"It can't be smell. If there were a scent trail, they'd have followed it." Stephen added.

"Hearing." Cutter said.

"Sound." Connor said, following Cutter's train of though.

"They heard something." Cutter said thoughtfully.

"It's using sound." Connor said, amazed.

"That's why it manages to stay ahead of us. It can detect physical movement before it's in visual range." Cutter realized.

"And the dogs, they detect a higher frequency, therefore they know when it's nearby." Connor added."Like echolocation." Ryan said as the final piece of the puzzle fell into place.

"High frequency sound waves. It's like a sonar system. Some animals use it to detect prey." Cutter said for those who didn't know.

"Like a bat. You said there was bat blood at the lion enclosure." Stephen realized, turning to face Connor.

"That's it. That's it. This thing must be some kind of… I don't know, super-bat." Connor said.

"He's right. Three quarters of all mammal species are bats or rats. Maybe the future belongs to them." Helen added.

"We can use its own weapon against it." Cutter said.

"The oscilloscope!" Connor said.

"It's in the car. Go get it." Cutter told Connor, who did as he was told. He ran back to the 4x4 and opened the back door, leaning inside to search for the oscilloscope.

"Okay. I know it's in here somewhere. Okay." He muttered to himself. He finally found the oscilloscope underneath the driver's seat. Pulling it out, he switched it on and it began to beep. The screen of the oscilloscope displayed the frequency of the sounds that it picked up, and it was showing extreme readings. Connor looked around outside the truck, and when he couldn't see anything, he got inside and shut the door warily, using the key fob to lock the doors. The beeping grew faster and faster, and then something slammed onto the top of the car. Something big, something heavy. There was a lurch as whatever it was, climbed off the car and the beeping on the oscilloscope slowed.

As Connor turned to look out of the back window, the front one imploded as the creature smashed through it, causing the car to lurch again. Luckily, the front seats were close enough together that it couldn't get close to him. Hurriedly, Connor unlocked the back doors and scrambled to get out, falling onto the ground outside; he slammed the door of the car shut with his feet and crawled backwards in a panic. The creature freed itself from the car. It was like nothing he had ever seen before; large and dark-skinned, its limbs were almost skeletal and it had no face. Large ear-like organs covered the space on its head where eyes should have been. It bent its elongated legs, ready to spring at him.

"Hey!" It was Abby. She threw a rock at the large creature, distracting it from him. It turned to her and she backed up, realizing what she had just done. Suddenly, Stephen came out of nowhere and shot at it. It backed off, turned and fled as the gunfire continued. Abby ran into his arms as Connor lay back and tried to catch his breath.

"Moves fast." Stephen said, surprised. Cutter pulled Connor to his feet.

"I thought I was going to die then." Connor told him.

"But you didn't." Cutter reminded him.

"No. Quite chuffed about that." Connor said weakly.

"Maybe you should go home." Cutter told him.

"No I'm going to stay. I mean, Han Solo, he wouldn't give up before the job's done would he?" Connor said.

"I always saw you more of an R2-D2 myself, but I take your point." Cutter told him, and smiled before walking away. Connor turned to Abby who was leaning against the 4x4.

"Hi." He said to her.

"Hi." She replied.

"Oh, um … You just saved my life." Connor said, sounding rather pathetic.

"I had to. You haven't paid this month's rent yet." She told him jokingly, and turned to walk away.

"Abby…" Connor said.

"Yeah?" Abby asked, turning back.

"Thank you." He told her. Abby smiled, and turned to join Stephen and Cutter who were waiting at the edge of the clearing.

"Connor, you coming?" Cutter shouted as Connor stood staring after the creature. He turned and ran to join them. They walked back to the others in silence, Connor's face screwed up in concentration as he tried to remember just what seemed so familiar about the strange creature that had tried to turn him into dinner.

* * *

Ryan and his men were searching a set of sheds, using the dogs to look for the creature, when Helen, Cutter, Connor and Stephen arrived. Connor was carrying the oscilloscope.

"I've called Aspen, she's on her way." Connor told them as Ryan gestured at them, indicating which building they were about to search next.

"Good." Cutter said, as they walked over to join Ryan. They walked into the shed, and straight away:

"What do they keep in here?" Cutter asked as he wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"It's animal crate storage." Stephen told him.

"Great place for a lair." Helen muttered as she followed them to where Ryan's men waited in the space between the group of sheds. The oscilloscope was still beeping steadily.

"Whatever's making that noise is right on top of us." Cutter said.

"Dog's should be going crazy." Stephen muttered.

"Come on." Cutter told them, and they walked into one of the buildings, accompanied by Ryan's men. Helen followed a squealing noise to the back of the shed, and found a box full of infant creatures, Stephen was right behind her.

"It's in here somewhere." Connor muttered, keeping close to Cutter.

"Cutter! You need to see this." Stephen shouted from where he and Helen stood at the back of the shed.

"My god. It's given birth." Cutter said, staring in horror at the five baby predators that sat in the box. Connor looked over his shoulder, and screwed up his face in disgust.

"Oh, cute." Connor said, but his tone told a different story.

"There are three bodies back here." Stephen called from a little further down.

"She's storing them to feed her young." Helen said in a matter-of-fact tone. Suddenly, the beeping of the oscilloscope sped up rapidly, and there was a thudding sound coming from the roof.

"We've got company!" Connor warned them.

"Where the hell is it?" Ryan shouted, and then a soldier disappeared, stolen by the creature. Quick as a flash, Cutter made a decision. The creature came into the room as Cutter grabbed one of the babies and made a break for it; the creature followed the screaming infant as Cutter entered a greenhouse. As the creature entered behind him, he stopped and turned. He fired at the glass roof of the greenhouse, in an attempt to confuse the creature's sonar, allowing him to get close enough to shoot the creature in the head. The creature slumped forward, dead, at Cutter's feet. There was the sound of running footsteps, and then the others came into view, stopping behind the dead creature. The puzzled look was back on Connor's face as he stared at it.

"I've seen this thing before." He said slowly. Stephen snorted.

"Yeah, about half an hour ago when it tried to eat you." He said. Connor shook his head as they walked out of the glass-free greenhouse with Helen, Abby and Cutter.

"No, I mean, I've seen it somewhere else." He told them, frowning. They walked back to the 4x4.

"I know!" Connor said, stopping, and the others turned to face him.

"It's like when you're a kid, and you're afraid of the monsters under your bed." He told them, receiving blank stares.

"Y'know, like how you're supposed to draw pictures and stuff of them until you're not scared of them anymore." He told them.

"Where exactly are you going with this?" Cutter asked him.

"That's where I've seen that thing before." He said, pointing back at the greenhouse where the dead creature still lay. They stared at him.

"What do you mean you've seen it in a kids picture? Whose?" Helen asked, curious. Connor frowned again, thinking hard.

"I'm not sure." He said, thinking back, but was interrupted by Ryan.

"There you are," Ryan said as he joined them.

"I just saw Aspen; she's heading toward the greenhouse, looking for you." He told them. Connor seemed to absorb the information and turned around to head back, before freezing mid-step.

"Ryan," Connor's voice was terse. "Is the creature still there?" Ryan paused for a moment.

"I think so, why?" He said. Connor didn't answer, and broke into a run.

"Because it was her drawing. She's seen them before. They're _her_ worst nightmare." He shouted over his shoulder.

Aspen stood inside the greenhouse, trying to catch her breath as she stared at the freshly dead creature. Long forgotten memories were now beginning to stir. Memories that hurt.

"Aspen? Penny? Penn!" It was Connor. He came scrambling into the old building, looking around wildly, before he saw her and came running over. He put his hand on her shoulder.

"Aspen?" Connor said tentatively. She was shaking. He pulled her back gently and steered her outside of the greenhouse and toward the 4x4 where she sat in the bed of the truck, white as a sheet.

"I... I don't understand." Aspen whispered a shadow of her regular self. She looked up at him.

* * *

The baby creatures were locked in a box next to the anomaly in the woods, and back at the office; Cutter, Claudia, Helen and Lester were discussing what to do with them.

"If you kill them now, you'll be making a big mistake." Helen told them.

"What do you suggest? A sympathetic foster family?" Lester asked sarcastically.

"A dangerous anomaly to the future is open in the Permian. Predators could come pouring through." Helen reminded him.

"But why do we keep these animals alive?" Claudia asked, not understanding.

"To pinpoint the exact location of the anomaly. All bats have extraordinary homing instincts. They'll know their own environments. They can lead us to it." She said.

"And what happens to them then?" Lester asked.

"We kill them." Cutter said simply.

"We kill them?" Lester asked.

"To let even one of them loose in the Permian era could be a potential catastrophe. They could wipe out whole species. They could change things in ways we can't even conceive." Cutter told him gruffly.

"And afterwards, we keep a permanent guard at the future anomaly?" Lester asked.

"The threat's too serious to be ignored." Cutter agreed.

"Serious enough to warrant a permanent intrusion into the past?" Claudia asked.

"With the correct restrictions, yes." Cutter told her.

"I suppose just bombing somewhere is out of the question? All right, we'll do it. I just hope you're right." Lester grumped, before walking away. Helen smiled at Cutter, and Claudia left, retreating to the bathroom. She was in for a nasty shock though; as she exited the cubical to wash her hands, she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. It was distorted, fractured like an anomaly, giving her the appearance of being part of one. Frightened, she looked away, and when she turned back a few moments later, the strange image was gone.

* * *

Later, back at the anomaly site in the forest, Helen, Cutter and Ryan prepped for their excursion through the anomaly! While the others looked on. A pair of soldiers carried a box of gear through, while another pair bent to pick up the crate containing the infant creatures.

"Be careful with them. They're our only hope of finding the future anomaly." Cutter told them before turning to Stephen.

"If I don't make it back, push Lester through the worst anomaly you can find." He said.

"It's a given." Stephen told him, and they shook hands. Stephen stepped back, and drew away as Claudia approached.

"What happens if it closes while you're on the other side?" Claudia asked, worry staining her voice.

"We wait until it re-opens." Cutter told her with a smile. From across the clearing, Helen watched Cutter and Claudia. Irritated, she stood and crossed to the anomaly.

"I think we should get going." She said, interrupting them. As Cutter turned to follow her, Claudia pulled him back.

"Don't go. Stay. I think this is a mistake. I've got a really bad feeling about this." Claudia begged him.

"It's going to be fine. I'll see you soon." He told her, and walked toward the anomaly. Ryan and two other soldiers lifted the crate containing the creatures and carried it through the anomaly.

"Think I should make a speech? One small step for man, that sort of thing?" Lester asked.

"Maybe another time." Claudia told him, and ran forward to pull Cutter down into a long kiss, to which he responded enthusiastically. Nobody quite knew what to say, and either looked surprised or looked away. Claudia released him and walked back to stand by Lester.

"Well that wasn't very professional." Lester said quietly.

"Stuff professionalism." Claudia told him. Stephen, Connor and Abby were smirking in the background as Helen turned to Nick and raised an eyebrow, he laughed and they both went through the anomaly. Claudia stared after them, and then walked back to join Aspen who was sitting quietly in the bed of the 4x4. She hadn't spoken since seeing the Predator, earlier on. Abby and Stephen stood around waiting, while the soldiers kept themselves busy, and Connor answered the phone.

"Uh-huh? Yeah. You're sure?" Connor asked.

"Connor?" Stephen said, and walked up to him, but was waved off.

"There's no chance you could have made a mistake?" Connor asked the person on the phone.

"Connor, give me the phone." Stephen insisted.

"Okay, I understand. Thanks." Connor said, and hung up. Stephen and Abby looked to him expectantly, and Aspen's heart sank. She had a nasty feeling that she already knew what he was going to say.

"The lab?" Stephen asked.

"Yeah. The creature's autopsy proves beyond any doubt that it was definitely a male." Connor told them.

"It's got to be female; it was nurturing its young." Stephen protested.

"Maybe in this species, that's a job for the boys." Connor offered weakly.

"It better be, because if not…it means the mother's still out there." Stephen said, looking out at the forest. Behind them, the oscilloscope started beeping more rapidly. There was a flash as the predator went through the anomaly, so fast that nobody actually realized what had happened. They turned toward the anomaly and moved closer to it as Claudia and a team of soldiers joined them.

"What happened?" Claudia asked.

"I'm not sure." Connor told her, looking around.

"Did you see something?" Claudia demanded.

"Nothing." Stephen told her as Connor pulled out his compass and moved closer to the anomaly.

"Is the anomaly getting weaker?" Claudia asked.

"No. No change." Connor told Claudia. Not even 10 minutes later, Claudia gasped suddenly and started to fade, literally becoming transparent, before disappearing completely. It was at that exact moment that Aspen felt Time itself change around her, like ripples in a pond. Half an hour later, Cutter stepped back through the anomaly, clutching Ryan's gun.

"What happened? Did you find the anomaly?" Lester asked Cutter, as Helen stepped through to stand beside him.

"Captain Ryan didn't make it, and all his men are dead. Whatever happens, nobody goes back through." Cutter told him.

"Well, I'm sorry to break your new rule so soon, Nick, but, um, I'm not staying." Helen told him, as she moved away so that she stood between him and Stephen. Cutter stared at her, as did the others. Aspen winced.

"Well, what did you come back through for?" Cutter asked, thoroughly confused.

"Oh, just a little, um, unfinished business." Helen said as she looked at Stephen. Cutter also looked at Stephen, who looked uncomfortable.

"You see, Nick, it was just one of those things. I was lonely, and you didn't seem to care about me. And Stephen was so sweet and attentive." Helen said in a simpering voice. Cutter looked back and forth between Helen and Stephen, a confused expression firmly in place. Stephen shook his head. Sensing trouble, Aspen raised her gun, unnoticed as everybody watched the drama unfold in front of them.

"Shut up Helen." Stephen growled.

"Oh, you mean you never told him? Oh dear." Helen said a devious look on her face, and opened her mouth again. Aspen pulled the trigger, and a burst of electricity arched towards Helen, slamming into her and knocking her out cold. As she hit the ground with a rather hollow thump, everybody turned to Aspen.

"Sorry," she said, her voice flat.

"My finger must have slipped. Hope she wasn't about to say anything important." There was a sarcastic lilt to her words as she holstered her EMD, before walking over to the anomaly. She crouched down and poked Helen with a stick, and when Helen didn't move, she looked up at Cutter.

"I like her better this way. Less chatty." He just stared at her in surprise, so she dropped the stick and stood up, dusted her hands off and stepped away. Cutter looked around, and for the first time, noticed that someone was missing.

"Where's Claudia?" He asked, and Aspen's stomach clenched as two different sets of memories of the past year ran through her mind. Before anybody could answer, the anomaly behind Cutter flashed and expanded, before closing.

* * *

**23.12.2012**

**AN: So - Last chapter before the Christmas Special. I'm still in shock - I can't believe I managed this... Maybe I've been bitten by a writing bug? Ah, either way, I'm happy. Helen got zapped, and it wasn't with a light setting. I was so happy when I wrote that part, that I nearly started dancing.  
**

**I apologize majorly for the... Ishness of this chapter. I've had very little time to spare these past few days, and a deadline for the special coming up. Let me know what may need fixing. I know Aspen is rather vacant in this chapter, but quite frankly I found it very tricky to fit in her meeting with the predator, and I really didn't want to reveal much on how she's seen them before. That will be revealed next season, but virtual cookies, and a cameo to anybody who can guess correctly with the information given.**

**My laptop, has decided that it refuses to cooperate with its charger, so I'm using my Mum's Ipad to write this. It's certainly a novel experience, usually Apple Tech and I get along like a house on fire - literally. My friends Apple Mac burst into flames next to me once. -.-" **

**This Christmas I'll probably spend my time with little cousins, so there won't be much time for writing. I've given up hope that the scripts will magically disappear, so if I can get my laptop to wake up for long enough, I'll copy the episodes over onto a flash drive and write the scripts out myself in my spare time. This means if I do continue, it won't be until the new year. There will be a poll up on my profile, and Id appreciate it if you all went and voted. It'd certainly give me an idea of your thoughts.**

**On another note, I went shopping the other day with my Mum and bought a new pair of were both practical and classy, and looked really cool, and when I looked at the label, I did a double take. You'll never believe it, but the name of the brand was 'Aspen'. Plus the only two pairs left were exactly my size. Who was I to deny fate. You can see what they look like on my deviant art: pyrenapythia dot deviantart dot com/art/Aspen-s-boots-343973705**

* * *

**Aspen's bio:-**

**Nam****e(s): **Aspen Faith Wilder, "Penny", "Penn".

**Age: **23, (born 1987).

**Height: **5 foot, 7 inches.

**Weight: **Unknown - She'd punch you if you asked.

**Look-a-like:** www dot imdb dot com/name/nm3004687/

**Weapon of Choice: **EMD (origins of weapon are unknown.)

**Affiliations: **Anomaly Response Team, Conner Temple, ARC (Season 2+).

**Abilities: **Aspen is an expert marksmen. (This hints at possible military training, but is unconfirmed.)

**Fears: **Losing the people she cares about. Future Predators. _(Reasons are implied, but not confirmed.)_

**History: **As far as the official records go. Aspen was orphaned at age 9 on a camping trip, where she saw her parents die. She was lost in the woods after that for a week, and when they finally found her, she wouldn't speak.

After being released from hospital, she went to live with her aunt, who reported that she displayed nervous habits such as being jumpy, sensitive to sound, and would react like a frightened animal when touched unexpectedly. She would have nightmares, seemed to be emotionally numb and could not seem to focus. (These are classic symptoms of PTSD.) Her aunt made her go to therapy sessions, but she never responded.

When she was 12, she disappeared, and then reappeared at the age of 16, saying that she had been with friends, who she would not name. Initial reviews showed her to be healthy, and even completely recovered from her PTSD. All attempts at discovering where she had been were rebuffed or pushed to the side. Eventually, at 19, she moved out and went to college where she met Connor a year later, when he hid her from a rather persistent boy who wanted a date. They formed a sibling bond, and that was that.

* * *

**Much love,**

**Sophia.**


	13. Special: A Very Merry Rex-mas!

**Arguing With Time**

**Sophia Conrad**

**Special: A Very Merry Rex-mas!  
**

* * *

_"Alright, Who gave Connor the mistletoe?"_

―_Stephen Hart  
_

* * *

"'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the ARC, Not a creature was stirring, not even a lizard; the stockings were hung by the A.D.D with care, in hopes that St. Lester would soon would be there." Abby chanted as she walked through the main hallway of the ARC toward her locker. It was Christmas Eve, and so far - no anomalies had occurred. Things were settling down for the afternoon, and Lester had been good enough to give them the afternoon through Boxing Day off, barring any incursions.

"Abby!" Abby turned to see Aspen hurrying down the hall after her.

"Hey Aspen." She greeted cheerily, nothing could ruin her good mood today.

"Hey. Look, what're your plans for tonight?" Aspen asked, looking around warily. Abby blinked, surprised.

"Um... Nothing really. I was just going to hang up Rex's stocking and watch a movie with a bowel of popcorn. Why?" Abby asked, and Aspen's eyes brightened.

"I was kind of wondering if you wanted to join us for Christmas." Aspen told her. Abby's eyes widened comically.

"Oh - I was on my way to _invite_ Stephen and Cutter too." Aspen added hurriedly, so that Abby knew it wasn't a match-making attempt. She whispered her plan into Abby's ear, and Abby smiled in a conspiratorial way.

"Will there be chocolate?" She asked. Aspen nodded solemnly.

"Is there any other way to live?" She answered in typical chocoholic style. They grinned in tandem, linking arms as they walked down to Cutter's Office, the poor man didn't stand a chance against their combined strengths. Cutter sat in his office, going over reports from the last year, in an attempt to find a connection between anomalies. He stilled, it was quiet. Too quiet. Looking up from his work, he felt a shiver run down his spine. Aspen and Abby were standing over him, and he didn't like the way they were looking at him.

"Whatever it is, No!" He told them, not wanting any part in whatever shenanigans they had planned. They smiled evilly, and Cutter gulped.

"I'm not going to like this, am I?" He said, as they each took one of his arms and began to pull him from the office and down the hallway to the 4x4 that sat in the parking lot.

* * *

"No. No way!" Duncan said, shaking his head, a terrified look on his face. Connor scrunched his nose up in confusion.

"What? Why?" He asked staring at his friends, puzzled.

"I don't know how to tell you, but your sister is a menace." Tom told him solemnly. Connor blinked.

"Did she threaten to disembowel you? Or was it the 'Ill rip your balls off, and shove 'em down your throat'?" He asked them. Tom and Duncan paled as he spoke, getting whiter and whiter until they resembled the color of old parchment.

"She's done that before?" Duncan asked, before gulping audibly. Connor sighed and shook his head.

"Look, its Christmas. She'll behave, I promise. Look, she's even given us something fun to do." He told them, and held up a basket of mistletoe.

"We've got mistletoe duty!" He told them gleefully. Tom and Duncan shared a look.

"Let's do it." The said in tandem.

* * *

There was a knock on the door of Stephen's flat. He raised his head up off of the couch where he was lying down.

"Who is it?" He shouted. There was no reply other than another knock on the door. Stephen groaned, and rolled off of the couch. He stood and moved toward the front door. Cautiously he opened it, looking out warily. Two sets of arms yanked him forward and out of the flat.

"Wait! I need my shoes!" He protested. The door shut behind him, and he inwardly thanked whatever deities existed that he had his keys and wallet in his pocket.

* * *

Back at the ARC, Lester walked into the main room only to find it empty. He frowned and looked around confused. The ADD was blaring in the background.

"Hello?" He said. "Is anybody here?" Nobody answered. Lester shrugged dismissively and turned around to walk out again, keys in hand.

"Ah, sod it. I just hope nobody end up as Christmas Dinner for some prehistoric turkey's." He said, getting into his car.

* * *

"What exactly are we doing?" Cutter asked grumpily from the back of the truck, where he and Stephen sat, hands tied with plastic cable-ties and tinsel. Aspen and Abby shared a grin.

"Should we tell them?" Abby said. Aspen grinned.

"Go on then." She answered. Abby turned to face them.

"Do you really want to know?" Abby teased.

"Yes!" Stephen said, frustrated.

"Do you _really_ want to know?" Abby asked.

"Just tell us!" Cutter said, grumbling.

"Christmas Party." Abby said simply. Cutter and Stephen stared at her.

"You what?" Stephen asked.

"We're throwing a surprise Christmas Party." Abby told him, smiling.

"Right..." Cutter said, nodding slowly, as they pulled up next to Aspen's flat.

"Then why are we tied up?" He asked, confused. Abby looked sheepish.

"Um... We were just bored." She admitted, untying them.

"I need a drink." Stephen said blearily. Aspen lead them through the front door and pointed to her right.

"Through there." She told him, and headed off to steal a beer. Not even 5 minutes later, he started cursing.

"Alright, who gave Connor the mistletoe?" Stephen's frustrated voice echoed from the kitchen area, and Aspen could only laugh at her friend's antics. This was turning out to be the best Christmas Eve ever.

**To be continued in… Tripping Over Fools.**

**25.12.2012**

**AN: If this isn't up to scratch then I blame the bottle of beer I had earlier... and the cider I'm halfway through. It's Christmas Eve, so I'm taking a load off. Even the cat is acting tipsy... But that's cause I gave him Catnip. (Oops.) **

**Sorry about it being so short, I'm tired, and lacking in inspiration. All my mental notes went out the window today when I was cleaning the the bathroom. In an attempt to make up for it, I've included a set of short "Spoilers"/Previews of 'Tripping Over Fools' further down this page, and an updated bio for Aspen.  
**

**So, my message to you all is that I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your friends, family, or otherwise related companions. I'll be back in the new year, with Season 2.  
**

**For those who are interested, I'll have the PDF of this story ready to mail out come January, when my new power cable arrives. Let me know, and I'll send it along ASAP.**

* * *

**Spoilers for Season 2: Tripping Over Fools.  
**

**2.1**

_"You all right?" Stephen asked Cutter._

_"Look at it, just a perfect killing machine. Do you know, in a fair fight, mammals wouldn't stand a chance." Cutter said as they laid the sleeping reptile down._

_"Well, speaking as a mammal, I'm all in favor of cheating." Aspen said, staring at the therapod warily._

_"Yeah, about the gun… I was wrong." Stephen said, turning to face Cutter._

_"Gee, you think." Aspen deadpanned._

**2.2**

_"Let me help. I want to do something." Jenny protested._

_"Okay. I want you to go and bully a few traumatized bystanders, and then I want you to come up with some spin to just smooth all this away." Cutter told her, uncaring._

_"You don't approve of me, do you?" Jenny said in a matter-of-fact tone._

_"No, I used to think you were really something, but you're not that person." Cutter told her shortly, not willing to go into detail._

_"Am I supposed to understand that?" Jenny asked, miffed._

_"No, I guess not." Cutter replied, and walked off. Jenny turned to Aspen, who was forbidden from going into the upper building due to her asthma._

_"It's a long story." Aspen told her. Jenny tapped her foot, frustrated._

**2.3**

_"Don't shoot me! Don't shoot me! Don't shoot!" The man in the lion suit shouted, hands raised over his head. He paused as he recognized Connor. _

_"You! _You! _You shot me! You shot me, look!" He screamed, indicating the bullet hole that went clean through the center of the lion mask's forehead. There was an awkward pause.  
_

_"You alright, though?" Connor asked him, worried._

_"DO I LOOK ALRIGHT!? YOU SHOT ME!" The manager screamed in frustration._

_"Dude, Chill!. It could have been worse." Aspen told him, as she jogged over to diffuse the situation.  
_

_"HOW?! HOW COULD IT HAVE BEEN WORSE?" The manager, Campbell, shouted at her._

_"I could have been the one with the gun." She told him, one eyebrow raised. Campbell seemed to shrink in on himself.  
_

**2.4**

_"So let me get this straight," said Aspen, once they all made it back to the hub._

_"So far today Connor's girlfriend ended up in hospital after she went schitzo on Toby and he stung her, __Jenny and Cutter are STILL fighting over the whole Claudia Brown deal, Stephen decided to suddenly become obsessed with a canal, __Connor and Abby had an awkward moment in some undisclosed era, and a Janitor came back from the dead just to punch Cutter." __She paused, looking straight at the collective group._

_"Is it just me, or was the only sane being today, a mutated walrus from the future!" Nobody moved._

_"What?" She asked. There was a moment of silence and then..._

_"Uh, Aspen? Could you put that down please?" Connor sounded as if an elephant had stepped on him. Aspen looked at the EMD she was holding, and chucked it onto the table. They flinched._

_"You do realize that the safety was on, right?" Aspen told them, sensing a migraine coming on._

**2.5**

_"Would you rather die of thirst, or be eaten? I think I'd rather be eaten. At least it's quick. Two bites, done. You're like four or five bites, so it'd be worse for you." Taylor asked them as they trekked through the sandy desert environment of the Silurian._

_"Can you not try and be positive for five minutes? You know, hopeful?" Cutter asked the small girl._

_"We're probably the best food around. Imagine you're a giant sand beast, living on nothing but millipedes. Then you get to taste people for the first time, all gooey and warm. We'd be like a delicacy. Who do you think they'll eat first?" Taylor asked. Both Cutter and Stephen looked uncomfortable. Aspen couldn't help but laugh._

"_Why don't you sing a song, or whistle, or... _something_, damn it, just _don't talk_?" Cutter asked grumpily. Taylor huffed, and Aspen held back a smile.  
_

_"Don't mind him." She told Taylor. "He's just grumpy because Jenny doesn't like him." Cutter glared at her as the small girl perked up.  
_

_"Who's Jenny?" Taylor asked, and Cutter groaned in frustration._

**2.6**

CLASSIFIED

**2.7**

CLASSIFIED

* * *

**Aspen's bio:-**

**Nam****e(s): **Aspen Faith Wilder, "Penny", "Penn".

**Age: **23, (born 1987).

**Height: **5 foot, 7 inches.

**Weight: **Unknown - She'd punch you if you asked.

**Look-a-like:** www dot imdb dot com/name/nm3004687/

**Family:** Mother (Deceased), Father (Deceased), Aunt (Unnamed), Cousin (Unnamed), Connor Temple (Surrogate Brother), Nick Cutter (Surrogate Father).

**Weapon of Choice: **EMD (origins of weapon are unknown.)

**Affiliations: **Anomaly Response Team, Conner Temple, ARC.

**Enemies:** Future Predators, Helen Cutter.

**Abilities: **Aspen is an expert marksmen. (This hints at possible military training, but is unconfirmed.)

**Disabilities:** Asthma (triggered by smoke), recovered from PTSD (allegedly).

**Fears: **Losing the people she cares about. Future Predators. _(Reasons are implied, but not confirmed.)_

**Incursions handled to date:** Gorgonopsid (1.1), Coelurosauravus (Rex, 1.1), Scutosaurus (1.1), Arthropleura (1.2), Protosolpugidae (1.2), Mosasaur (1.3), Hesperonis (1.3), Dodo (1.4), Parasite (1.4), Pterosaur (1.5), Pteranodon (1.5), Future Predator (1.6).

**History: **As far as the official records go. Aspen was orphaned at age 9 on a camping trip, where she saw her parents die. She was lost in the woods after that for a week, and when they finally found her, she wouldn't speak.

After being released from hospital, she went to live with her aunt, who reported that she displayed nervous habits such as being jumpy, sensitive to sound, and would react like a frightened animal when touched unexpectedly. She would have nightmares, seemed to be emotionally numb and could not seem to focus. (These are classic symptoms of PTSD.) Her aunt made her go to therapy sessions, but she never responded.

When she was 12, she disappeared, and then reappeared at the age of 16, saying that she had been with friends, who she would not name. Initial reviews showed her to be healthy, and even completely recovered from her PTSD. All attempts at discovering where she had been were rebuffed or pushed to the side. Eventually, at 19, she moved out and went to college where she met Connor a year later, when he hid her from a rather persistent boy who wanted a date. They formed a sibling bond, and that was that.

Later, she and Connor helped found the ARC along with Nick Cutter, Stephen Hart, Abby Maitland and James Lester.

* * *

**Much Love,  
**

**Sophia.  
**


End file.
